An Inconvenient Romance
by TamTikitigo
Summary: Al Potter thought of himself as an uninteresting person who was constantly overshadowed by his relatives. Scorpius Malfoy didn't disagree with that thought, until Al did something to him that Scorpius couldn't forgive: Al was nice to him. AS/S
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Well, I haven't written fanfiction in about two years, I believe. Hi, everybody who read my fanfiction from two years ago. I guess I'm back. I wrote this to challenge myself, because back in the days when I would desperately await the day when the next Harry Potter book would come out, I despised the Harry/Draco ship. And then of course, I read the epilogue to the 7th Harry Potter book, and thought to myself "Oh Jo, you're doing this on purpose." She totally set it up for next generation fanfics! So I decided, why the hell not? I'll write a cliche 'forbidden love opposites attract' fanfiction, make it as cannon as possible, and I'll have fun doing it!

p.s. - I'm not trying to offend Harry/Draco shippers. If I really hated that ship, I wouldn't be writing this.

Warnings: Slash. Lots of gaying. I drop the F bomb in this fic several times, meaning this would be rated R in theaters, but this is fanfiction. I think if you're a teenager, you can handle it.

* * *

Al truly didn't think much of it at the time. He was just doing what any good hearted human being would do. True, there weren't many of those lurking around Hogwarts these days, so it must have been slightly shocking for Scorpius when he received an empathetic embrace from a dark haired, green eyed Gryffindor. That certainly didn't mean Al was now a savior, sent to earth to provide salvation for the all the light haired assholes who inhabit the Earth. He was just Al. He was the son of The Boy who Lived, the little brother of Head Boy Quidditch star, the cousin of the child prodigy, the older brother of the most popular girl in the fourth year. He was related to interesting people. He himself wasn't interesting. At least, he didn't think he was. Besides, Scorpius Malfoy _hated _Al's brother for bullying him so much, he _hated _his cousin for academically kicking his ass, and he hated his sister for seducing all of his friends. Surely that meant he hated Al too. Right?

It all started on a cool October evening. In the month of October, Al had done a lot of schoolwork, studied a lot of magic, and played a lot of Quidditch. As a result, Al felt he had the right to abuse his prefect privileges by wondering about the Hogwarts library five minutes before curfew, with no intention of leaving until long after midnight. Before he became a prefect, Al did this anyway. While other third years spent their past-curfew adventures engaging in questionable content in the astronomy tower, Al spent his past-curfew adventures reading in the Library. Yes, reading. Fiction, specifically. The teachers that came across this adorable green eyed dark haired thirteen year old hardly had the heart to tell the poor child he couldn't read in the library in the middle of the night – the first five times they caught him. Eventually, the Professors deducted many house points as a way of saying "Seriously Al, I don't care how precious you look curled up with that book by the window, it's against the rules to be out at night." When he protested, they deducted even more house points, this time saying "now you're being an obnoxious thirteen year old know it all. That pisses me off, go to bed before I smack you."

And so, Professors stopped finding him in the library after hours. They were pleased that they had finally taught at least _one _member of the Potter/Weasley family not to be an obnoxious brat. It's unfortunate that they hadn't taught _anyone _not to be a smart ass; Al just uses his handy dandy invisibility cloak.

Considering all of the rule breaking Al and his brother have done, plus the fact they both come from a long line of rule breaking trouble makers, the Potter siblings really should not have been made prefects. However, since James was a talented charismatic student and Al was... er, related to him... they were given prefect priveledges and snazzy little prefect badges. Thanks to this snazzy prefect badge of his, Al could roam about wherever he wanted, as long as he told people he was on prefect duties. Nobody actually knew what prefect duties were; they just knew that Al was on them a _lot._ This particular evening, Al was reading Agatha Christie's The Mysterious Affair at Styles, and was deeply entangled in the brilliance of detective Poroit's mystery solving while desperately wishing he too had a stylish upward curled mustache. He was reading this book when he heard a sound from the women's restroom. He wasn't quite sure what it was at first – he couldn't tell if someone was singing or dying – but the more he listened, the more he was positive that it was someone _crying. _He considered the possibilities, and his first guess was that it was Moaning Myrtle, but she didn't haunt the bathroom in the Library. And besides, it sounded distinctly _male._

Instead of politely walking away from the bathroom to a quieter location, Al's kind hearted (if not intrusive) personality got the better of him. Al set his book down and silently made his way over to the restroom. He creaked open the door as quietly as possible; the sobbing figure didn't even budge. He simply sat there, his knees curled up to his chest, his face hidden by stringy blonde hair, and his shoulders shaking. He looked absolutely pathetic, and Al had no idea what to do. So, he did the only thing he knew _how _to do. Al knelt down in front of the pathetic creature, and wrapped his arms around him. He heard the other boy hold his breath – in shock, in anger, in relief? – and Al held on tighter. He could feel him shaking in his arms for a while, and then finally relax, and continue breathing. Al felt happy, he felt complete, and he felt comfortable. He loved the beauty of being able to feel so alive by helping another human being.

"What the fuck are you doing?" The no longer crying person asked, his face still buried in Al's neck. The beautiful and comfortable feeling evaporated with those words, and was replaced by a mortifying and utterly embarrassed feeling. Al quit hugging this person, who – it finally hit him – he didn't even know. He pushed himself away from the mysterious cry-baby and began stammering an incoherant reply. When the two students finally made eye contact, Al felt his heart plunge into his stomach with utter horror.

_Oh shit. _He thought. _It's Scorpius Fucking Potter._

The two sat there, staring at each other for a long time. Al's face was as red as a strawberry and Scorpius's bloodshot eyes were looking at him with utter bewilderment. Al's mind was completely blank, while Scorpius's mind was filled with numerous questions that were not going to be answered anytime soon. And so, after that long awkward moment of staring at each other, Al stood up, and left the women's restroom without another word. He did not think about Scorpius's warm body, the fact that his tears were still on Al's neck, or the fact that this horrific evening will probably be discovered by every single family member that Al has ever had, including the deceased ones. No, Al was simply thinking about crawling into his warm bed, dreaming about Quidditch, and hopefully passing away painlessly in his bed before the next morning. As he entered his dorm room, he checked his watch, and silently congradulated himself for making it to bed before curfew for the first time in years.

* * *

Al and Scorpius's relationship before that touching/humiliating moment wasn't a very significant one. They first spoke to each other during Potion's class in their first year. Little Rose Weasley asked Al to pass the Snurple Root (or whatever that root was called), and Scorpius Malfoy turned to Al with a sneer and said "_Al? _Isn't that a _boy's _name?"

Al looked at him indignantly, and stated quite precisely, "I _am _a boy!"

"Oh."

As a result, Al didn't like Scorpius, and Scorpius thought Al looked a bit feminine. The rest of their conversations mainly started with Scorpius glaring at Al and saying "your brother's a prick!" Under normal circumstances, Al would have responded with "I know," but since Scorpius still thought Al looked like a girl, he said "No Malfoy, _you _are!" Scorpius would glare at him and say "at least I'm not a girl!" and Al would respond with "at least I'm not an _ugly _girl!" and the argument would continue. They hadn't had one of these childish arguments since their second year. It was mainly _James _and Scorpius who hated each other.

Even though James and Scorpius were really the ones with a vendetta against each other, Al still thought Scorpius was, pardon the expression, a bit of a fuck-shit. Not enough of a fuck-shit for Al to absolutely hate his guts, but a fuck-shit none the less. Not to mention the rivalry The Potter/Weasley's and the Malfoy's have had since practically the dawn of time. So you can understand how absolutely mortified Al was by this whole situation. He hoped that perhaps since it was dark, Scorpius hadn't recognized him and thought perhaps it was Nearly Headless Nick who had held him in a loving embrace, but judging by the perplexed looks Al got from Scorpius all throughout the next day, he was pretty sure Scorpius didn't mistake him for Nearly Headless Nick. Al spent all of Potions avoiding eye contact as much as possible, and turning deep red whenever he did accidently look into Scorpius's eyes. To summarize, it wasn't an enjoyable day for either Al or Scorpius.

Whenever Al had a particularly upsetting day, he'd find a way to reserve the Room of Requirement for himself to take time to sit, meditate, and do his homework in peace. What he really needed was to communicate with Scorpius and make up some bullshit story about how he mistook him for a blonde, female Gryffindor girlfriend that doesn't actually exist, but he certainly was not going to ask the room to bring him Scorpius Malfoy. Unfortunately for Al, the Room of Requirement seemed to know what Al required more than Al did, because when he opened the door, he found himself face to face with a very relaxed, and very tipsy Scorpius. He was spread out on a very comfortable looking couch with a simple coffee table covered in Pina Coladas in front of him. Scorpius abruptly stopped slurping his fourth Pina Colada to stare at Al as if he had an extra thumb growing out the side fo his head. Al stopped dead in his tracks, like a deer caught in traffic lights.

"Oh." He said, positive his voice raised probably two, perhaps three octaves. "Hi, sorry, I'll just – "

"Stay." Scorpius said, sitting up and pointing to Al. Al raised an eyebrow at him, unsure if he heard correctly.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Just, stay. Come, sit," Scorpius replied, waiving his hands about in a very loose, slightly drunk matter. He motioned to a friendly chair that was positioned right next to the couch, inviting him to pop a squat. "Would you like _alcohol? _We have rubbing alcohol and alcoholic beverages." Scorpius picked up a glass and raised it towards Al, as if requesting a toast.

"Personally, I recommend the alcoholic beverages for when you want to get drunk, but if you're in the mood for _poisoning _someone, rubbing alcohol tends to do the trick." Scorpius laughed heartily as Al stood there, unsure of how to respond to this. Not only was he unsure of whether or not Scorpius was joking (It wasn't much of a joke and Slytherin's were pretty good at killing people) but he was unsure of how to speak to a drunken arch nemesis. Scorpius ended his laughter and started motioning towards the chair.

"Well don't just stand there! Sit down!" he stated, getting slightly frustrated with Al's lack of cooperation.

"I – alright." Al said, deciding it was better not to argue. He sat down in a chair next to Scorpius, feeling quite uncomfortable and desperately wanting to leave.

"Your name is Albus, right?" Scorpius said to Al, positioning himself so he was speaking to him face to face. "Albus Severus? Albus Severus Potter? Asp, like a snake. A _snake," _Scorpius gave a feisty little hissing noise as he said snake, making Al even _more _uncomfortable. "You're a _snake, _mate. I like it. May I call you Asp?!"

"I'd prefer if you – "

"So Asp, I honestly, I really, I want to ask you something, Asp, can I? Would you allow that?" Scorpius asked, his words overly articulated and his voice louder than usual. Before Al could answer, Scorpius waved his hand about and said "No, don't answer. I'm asking anyway. Why the fuck did you – what's the right word, god damn, why did you _embrace _me in the lavatory?!" Al's embarrassment turned to annoyance when Scorpius finally confronted him with this question. He forgot his plans of telling Scorpius about his non existant Gryffindor girlfriend with a tortured soul, and began to think that perhaps this whole situation was not necessarily his fault.

"Wait, now hold on a second, what on earth were you doing in the women's lavatory anyway!?" He asked indignantly. Scorpius let out an angry huff.

"I like the couch, alright?" He said, as if this was a reasonable enough explanation. Before Al could point out that Scorpius wasn't even _on _the couch, he continued with, "And what's your excuse!? You were just on this – on a rampant hunt for rivals to hold onto?! Is that it?"

Al turned bright red, and began stammering. "I – I heard crying, so I – "

"I wasn't _crying._" Scorpius responded defensively. "I was… I as lamenting, perhaps, but I was not _crying." _

"You were sobbing!"

"I was lamenting!"

"Look, I'm sorry," Al said, getting up from his seat. "I'm sorry I hugged you. That was probably inappropriate, and stupid… _definitely _stupid, and I'm sorry." Al made his way to the exit when Scorpius began to protest.

"I – what? No! come sit down, sit back down! Why are you apologizing!? What's there to apologize for?" Scorpius asked, patting Al on the shoulder, who was uncomfortable enough as it was, and wasn't pleased by the new physical contact. "No, my good man, showing random acts of kindness – that's the sort of thing Jesus Christ would do, I am _very _impressed with – and really, you're James Potter's _brother – _I'm right, aren't I? Am I right?"

"You're right."

"And he shows me random acts of hatred, so I really, I appreciated your – and it's my favorite thing in the world, really – " and so, Scorpius began rambling. Rambling on about good people and bad people and good professors and bad professors and good dragons ad bad dragons, and eventually, Al just gave up trying to follow him. This kid was absolutely ridiculous.

"God, this is fun, isn't it?" Scorpius said, finally ending his monologue of silliness and turning his attention back to Al "Look at us," he continued, "Two sixth years, _never _acknowledged the others existence before, and now we're having Pina Coladas in the Room of Requirement. I'm in a splendid mood right now, I feel absolutely – I feel classy. Well, maybe not classy, but I feel – swell is an appropriate adjective. Yes. I feel swell." Al raised an eyebrow at him.

"Is swell a euphemism for tipsy?" he asked, a smile creeping across his face. Scorpius nodded his head and smiled.

"Ah ha, thank you, I am tipsy, aren't I?" he said, pointing at Al. "Would you like a drink, Asp?"

"Do you mind calling me Al?" Al asked.

"Do you mind sucking my cock? No I'm not calling you _Al!" _He laughed as if it was the most ridiculous request in the world, while Al stared at him in shock, slightly disgruntled by the cock sucking comment. "Would you like a drink?"

"Er, Butterbeer's fine, thanks."

Scorpius scoffed at this response, "Pansy."

"Hey, that's a bit hypocritical of you. At least I'm not drinking a fruity tropical beverage!" Al pointed out, angry that such a wimpy blonde haired cry baby would dare call him a pansy.

"What's wrong with Pina Coladas!?" Scorpius asked; not in a defensive way, but as if he really wanted to know.

"Well, it's kind of a feminine drink, isn't it?" Scorpius laughed.

"Asp, you're talking to someone who laments in women's restrooms, my masculine pride isn't going to be killed by a Pina Colada." Al laughed with Scorpius, and Al suddenly felt more at ease. "I've been doing all the talking," Scorpius said, sitting himself up and facing Al. "Tell me, tell me about yourself, Asp!"

"Well…" Al said, rubbing the back of his neck, "what do you want to know?"

"Tell me your life story. Tell me your weaknesses, and your fears. Tell me your secrets. Tell me – tell me _everything. _I'm in a splendid mood for sharing personal information."

"Er, I'll stick to telling you my hobbies, alright?"

Scorpius let out a disappointed sigh. "_fine."_

And so, Al started thinking of things he could tell Scorpius. What he truly loved to do, and what truly made him feel like a human being, was to make others happy and provide friendship and support even to mere acquaintances.

"I enjoy flying," he said lamely, feeling a little vain and very exposed. "Tell me about yourself" was a rather vain thing to say to someone, and a rather personal request as well. Instead of responding with the usual "golly gee wiz, Al, you sure are good at flying!" Scorpius simply rolled his eyes.

"Well, yes, you're on the Quidditch team, so I should hope so."

"I like reading," Al responded, hoping that perhaps Scorpius found this a more interesting personality quirk. Scorpius chuckled a little at this; Al couldn't tell if Scorpius was mocking him or if it was a chuckle of fondness. It was quite possible that he simply found it amusing.

"Geek." That settled that then. "You, you always are reading some book. You and Rose Weasley."

"Yeah, well Rose tends to read books that are actually worth reading," Al said modestly. "I tend to read fiction. Mystery, generally, but I enjoy just about anything that's well written. You know, interesting plot that keeps you guessing, likeable characters, and some sort of twist at the end."

"So mystery," Scorpius said. Al smiled.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"So, do you ever read any muggle fiction?" Scorpius asked.

"Is there any wizard fiction worth reading?"

"Touché." The conversation went on for a surprisingly long time. Al talked about Agatha Christie books while Scorpius told him one of his favorite authors/playwrights was Oscar Wilde. Al then made fun of him for being really pretentious and kind of gay, and they both laughed. Scorpius then went on to tell him about how he would read muggle fiction in secret, since his dad was none too fond of muggles, and Al sympathized with him. All in all, it was an enjoyable conversation. Then it got awkward.

"So tell me about your sex life," Al sighed, and mentally cursed Scorpius for bringing up one of the most awkward subjects on the face of the planet next to religion and politics. Al looked at him for a while, not quite sure Scorpius really truly asked that.

"No thank you."

"You're no fun!" Scorpius exclaimed in frustration. "Tell you what, I'll tell you about mine if you tell me about yours. I bet you're not as big of a man whore as I am." Al thought of all the sexual encounters he ever had, which took up little time at all, since Al was quite the virgin.

"Well probably not," Al said without thinking.

"Alright, I was kind of joking!" Scorpius said, slightly offended by Al's response.

"Oh, no, that's not what I meant!" Al said quickly, turning a bright shade of red. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, I'm sure you're very celibate – not the word I was looking for, I'm sure you're very – liberal, but not, horrendous with your sexual experiences, I – um…"

"You're digging yourself into a hole, here, Asp."

Al buried his face into his hands, completely mortified by the sudden path the conversation went on. "I am so sorry, I'm not trying to offend you, I _swear_," he said, not lifting his face from his hands.

Scorpius smiled at him. "Look at you. You're bright red. You're so adorable when you're flustered. You are the _definition _of adorable. No wonder you have a hoard of fangirls." Scorpius ruffled Al's hair affectionately as he said this, and Al gave him a look of surprise.

"Fangirls? No no, I think you're confusing me with James," Al said, laughing at the very thought of him being some sort of ladies man.

"Oh, yes, because James and I discuss muggle literature together on a regular basis. _No _I'm not confusing you with _James, _I hate him," Scorpius said, taking another slurp of his Pina Colada.

"Every girl wants him, though," Al pointed out, a tone of bitterness in his voice.

"Including the ones related to him?" Scorpius asked.

"Ah!?"

"Just checking. But really, alright, James has the whole, what is it? He's got the rebel without a cause thing going on, which, of course, tends to be irresistible when he's not being an arse, but you, you've got this shy gentleman charm going on. Truly, it's very alluring and sexy, but – but not in the conventional way. I like it." Al felt his face and the back of his neck heaten up, and could not think if a single way to reply to that. It was not every day that he was told he was "alluring" or "sexy," and he's certainly never been told that by another boy.

"Er, thanks?" was all that escaped Al's mouth.

Scorpius rolled his eyes and waved his hand about lazily. "Oh, look at me. I'm hitting on you. I'm sorry."

"What?"

"Please, ignore me. I'll stop hitting on you, you poor boy."

Al stared at Scorpius blankly for a little while. "You were hitting on me?"

"It's hard not to," Scorpius said, smiling at Al.

"Er – "

"Oh, I did it again!" Scorpius exclaimed in anguish, hitting his head with the palm of his hand. "I'm sorry."

"Are you – are you a homosexual?" Al asked, completely unaware that that was a possibility until this moment.

"Is it not obvious?" He asked. "That's not rhetorical; I really want to know, because if it's not obvious, I'm extremely pleased with myself. Seriously, is it not obvious?"

"Well… I mean, I didn't really think much about it before now, but I guess it makes sense," Al said. Scorpius sat up quickly, slightly offended by the comment.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked. Al smiled.

"Well, you _were _crying in the women's restroom –"

"That means nothing!"

At that, Al couldn't stop himself. He just started laughing. "It means you're _really _feminine."

"It does _not! _It means I'm in touch with my inner emotions, and that I – oh stop _laughing! _I'll hit on you again!"

"I'm _sorry," _Al said, wiping the tears from his eyes._ "_I really – I mean, you have to admit this entire situation is really funny."

Scorpius began laughing in agreement. "Yes, I suppose it is."

"You're such an odd person."

"Thank you, Asp. You're not so bad yourself." Whether or not a friendship was formed from this encounter in the Room of Requirement, Al nor Scorpius were quite sure. All they knew was that there was _someone _in this school who they didn't know too well and who they actually cared to get to know better.

* * *

A/N: Thank you so much for reading this guys! Please R&R. I love constructive criticism and suggestions for future chapters. Good news: this fanfic actually has an end, so I might finish it! Read. Review. Thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hi guys! Sorry this took so long to write, I had to make sure it was absolutely perfect. Unfortunately, I've decided I hate this title. It reminds me of An Inconveniant Truth, and I'm constantly tempted to have Al Gore show up and start talking about Global Warming. On a different note, thank you all so much for the reviews! Seriously, I expected to get like, four reviews. You guys are awesome. By the way, Koji-Tusnami, you're right. I'm totally cheating. That's what makes this fun! And Metronome Maven, thank you so much for pointing out that typo! Seriously guys, if you see any typoes, which you will, let me know so I can fix them ASAP. I like to think I am perfect, and I basically am, but not when it comes to fixing typos spellcheck doesn't get. Anyway, enjoy the fanfic, I'll try to be a little quicker with ch 3, but I can't count on it. I'm working on college applications. _College applications!!_ When on earth did I grow up? Enjoy the fic!

* * *

Albus Severus Potter was, for lack of a better word, a fairy. A queer. A queen. He was gay, and this put him in many unfortunate situations. For instance, falling madly in love with your older brother's best friend; falling madly in love with your cousin's boyfriend; falling madly in love with straight boys in _general; _those all were considered unfortunate for Al. He first discovered this interesting fact about himself in his third year of Hogwarts. The Gryffindor Quidditch team was preparing for an intense match against the Hufflepuffs. Francis, their keeper, had eaten a dragons egg only three days before the match, and was constantly vomiting fire. Needless to say, he was in no state to play Quidditch.

Al was a chaser. He was also the second best keeper the team had. Therefore, he was forced to become the keeper while another third year filled in for Al as the third chaser. Audrey, the team captain, was in a bit of shock by her boyfriend's medical problems, and was too distraught to give any sort of inspiring speech. Luckily for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Fred and James Weasley were there.

"Right, so, the Hufflepuff's are dipshits," James said, raising his fist as if daring anyone to contradict him. Fred nodded encouragingly.

"That is _so _right James. We Gryffindor's; we're stallions!" Fred said enthusiastically while flexing his muscles. This confused Al greatly, because not only did the Gryffindor Quidditch team consist of _humans _and not _stallions, _the mascot was a lion as well.

"That is _so _right Fred. Who cares if they have this new bad ass chaser?" James said. Al's ears perked up at the word "chaser."

"I'm sorry? A new chaser?" He said, as if he didn't hear correctly. James looked at him, slightly shocked that he didn't hear about this before.

"Didn't you hear? Frank Longbottom is the new chaser this year. You know, Professor Longbottom's son. You probably don't know him, he's a fourth year, but rumor has it he's pretty good."

"I hear he's more than good, I hear he's amazing."

"Mate, I hear Voldemort's boggart is _Frank Longbottom._"

"If Dumbledore and Voldemort were to get into a fight, Frank Longbottom would win."

"Nicolas Flamel created the Philosophers stone. Frank Longbottom created Nicolas Flamel."

And so this continued for a while. Apparently Frank Longbottom was a bad ass. Al wasn't quite sure he believed all this nonsense about Longbottom. Al wasn't easily intimidated, and although he wasn't as familiar with keeping as he was with being a chaser, he was confident with his keeping skills.

And then he laid eyes on Frank Longbottom. Frank wasn't just a badass, he was a _beautiful _badass. He had a sturdy, muscular built well beyond his fifteen years and perfectly sculpted lips that Al longed to be pressed up against his. His deep brown eyes were the most beautiful eyes Al had ever seen, and his blonde hair was thick and wavy, making him truly an Adonis.

He kicked Al's ass. It wasn't even because of his superior Quidditch skills, it was because Al was too much of a love struck poofter to keep properly. Every time Frank would approach the goal posts, Al would freeze. He wouldn't pay attention to anything but Frank's flushed cheeks and his golden hair and those beautiful eyes. Every single time Frank approached the goal post, he'd score a goal against the Gryffindor Quidditch team. The score was 170 to 210, and Al nearly died of shame at the end of the game. At least, he wished he did, because his other teammates tore him apart afterwards.

And so, Al discovered he was gay. He also discovered that nothing positive could come from being gay, simply humiliating Quidditch results.

Scorpius was also quite queer. His discovery of this was much less humiliating and much simpler. He was eleven. He was in his favorite store with his mum (Madame Renee's Extravagant Robes for Special Occasions) and he accidently stumbled upon a very young, beautiful woman with an hourglass figure changing clothing. All Scorpius paid attention to were her hideous shoes.

He figured that meant he was gay.

Now, the difference between these two was the fact that one was open about his sexuality and the other wasn't. Practically the entire Slytherin house knew about Scorpius, because Scorpius had at _least _kissed practically the entire male population of the Slytherin house above year five, generally without permission. Al, on the other hand, told one person and one person alone. He told Rose Weasley in his fourth year of Hogwarts.

"Oh, Al. I'm so glad you told me, I've been suspecting it for quite a while, no offense." Rose was his dearest and most obnoxious friend. They told each other everything, and Rose's blunt and honest attitude was what Al loved and hated about her the most. "After the fact that you barely even held hands with Amanda while dating her, I figured you had to be gay or asexual."

"Yes, well, that's mainly because her hands were sweaty," Al told her, trying to prove to her that he wasn't afraid of physical contact, although even he had to admit he was none too fond of it.

"You know, statistically speaking, I believe one person out of twenty is GLBT," Rose stated, sounding as if she were a tour guide as opposed to a teenage girl.

"What on earth, Rose? Isn't that a type of sandwich?"

"_Honestly, _Al, GLBT stands for Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual-Transgendered," Rose said, rolling her eyes at Al and his lack of knowledge for PC phrasing. "Some GLBT _you _are."

"I – I'm not _all _of those things!" Al protested. No matter how confused he was, he was sure he was sure he wasn't bisexual, transgendered, or a lesbian.

"Anyway, I guess that means you're the one out of three in Gryffindor!" She said enthusiastically, patting him on the back. Al stared at her for a while, unsure of how to respond.

"You know, that doesn't really make me feel better," he told her. Al didn't believe that he would ever meet anybody in the same situation as him. He thought he was doomed to die a miserable queer virgin; outcast by society and crying himself to sleep every night. So when he found out that Scorpius was gay, he was thrilled to have someone who he could at least _talk _to about being in the situation. Scorpius' physical appearance certainly didn't hurt either. Al was pleased to know that he wasn't an outcast, or if he was, he was one out of two outcasts. This, as well as enjoying Scorpius's company in general, was the reason that he greeted Scorpius in potions class that next morning.

"Hi, Scorpius!" Al said cheerfully, coming over to the Slytherin potions table. The other Slytherin's glared at him, and Scorpius looked a little startled. He soon replaced his shock with what looked like forced distain.

"Er, what do you want, Potter?" He said, scowling at Al. Al's cheerful disposition evaporated.

"Er, nothing," he said, confused with Scorpius's new attitude. Did Al dream up that evening in the Room of Requirement, or was Scorpius simply being a jackass? "I just wanted to say –"

"Kiss my ass, Potter." Scorpius said, his friends smiling and laughing at Al. Al didn't even respond. He just looked at Scorpius, his green eyes filled with disappointment. And so, he returned to his seat next to Rose, and Scorpius laughed along with his friends, hiding the guilt that was building up inside him.

* * *

Later that day, Al decided he had urgent prefect duties that night. In the library, specifically. He grabbed a random book off the shelf, and began to read, not really paying attention to the words he was reading. All he could think about was how angry Scorpius had made him that day. He was thinking about Scorpius when he came across a sentence. _I always like to know everything about my new friends, and nothing about my old ones_. Swell. He'd picked up The Picture of Dorian Grey, by Oscar Wilde. True, some people liked Oscar Wilde, but Al found him to be patronizing, hypocritical, two faced and a backstabbing asshole.

Then again, perhaps he simply thought that because Oscar Wilde reminded him of Scorpius. Al quickly exchanged this book for the first book he laid his hands on, which was The Lustful Centaur, by Lavender Brown. This book was filled with sentences like "he traced the curve of her breast, and clutched those ivory mounds, his heart filled with lust!" which Al didn't find particularly fascinating, but ivory mounds didn't make him think of Scorpius. That is, until Scorpius interrupted Al's evening.

"Hello, Asp! Thought I'd find you here. Oh, interesting choice of literature," He said, snatching the pink paperback book out of his hands. He opened to a random page in the middle, and gave a dramatic read through.

"'Her fingertips filled with _excitement _as she tenderly stroked his _throbbing man meat!'_ Ooh, throbbing man meat, my favorite."

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Al snapped. He had very little patience with Scorpius, especially after today's encounter. Scorpius looked at Al, slightly hurt by the use of his surname. He sat down next to Al, and set the book down in front of him.

"I want to talk to you," he said. "I had fun being with you last night, and I was hoping to hang out with you again." Al didn't even look at Scorpius, he simply glared at his knees, making Scorpius very uneasy.

"I guess you'd rather not…" he said tentatively. Al rolled his eyes, and finally shot his piercing glare at Scorpius.

"You completely blew me off this morning!" he said. Instead of apologizing like Al expected him to do, Scorpius gave a casual laugh.

"Oh, that," he said, relieved that that was the only reason Al was angry at him. "that didn't mean anything. Must keep up appearances, that's all," he said, nudging Al painfully in the ribs. Al scooted away from Scorpius in retaliation.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, still glaring at Scorpius.

"Oh, come on Asp," Scorpius said, putting his arm around Al in a brotherly manner. "Everybody knows that the Potter family and the Slytherin's don't get along. Your dad put half the Slytherin parents in Azkaban. Besides, do you really want your brother knowing that we don't hate each other?"

"I could care less what my brother thinks! Hell, I could care less about what happened to your parents twenty something years ago," Al said, this time getting up and walking away from Scorpius, his back turned. "But apparently what happened a quarter of a century ago is more important to you than right now."

"What? Asp, _Al, _come on – "

"No, you come on! I don't want to be around you. Leave me alone," Al said. Scorpius's face fell.

"Honestly?" He asked softly. Al didn't even look at him.

"Yeah," he replied. "I have better things to do." There was silence for a moment. Al still had his back turned, and he was waiting to hear Scorpius's footsteps quietly leave the library. When no such noise was made, Al turned back around, only to see Scorpius with watery eyes.

"Oh no," Al said, shaking his head. "Don't tell me you're going to cry."

"I'm not crying," Scorpius said, his voice quivering slightly. "I'm lamenting!" He blew his nose loudly into a tissue, possibly for dramatic effect, swiftly turned around and began to leave. Al sighed and shook his head.

"Fine, I'm sorry," Al said, rolling his eyes at the ridiculousness of this whole situation. Scorpius didn't turn around; he simply threw his tissue onto the floor of the library.

"No, no. You made your decision, Albus!" he stated dramatically. "I'm going to throw myself out the window of the Astronomy Tower. I hope you're happy!"

"Oh honestly, Scorpius, now you're just overacting," Al said while laughing. Scorpius turned around and smiled at him.

"Was it a bit much? I've always been told that I'm an incredible actor, but I felt that was a bit much."

"I believe it was more than a _bit _much, mate." Al said, still very amused by the entire situation. Scorpius made his way over to Al and draped his arm around Al's shoulders.

"How about this," he stated, as if attempting to sell Al illegal merchandise. "We hate each other in public. We hate each other so much that we have dramatic fights in the Great Hall once a week in which we insult each other in various ways. But in _private, _that's when we get out the Pina Coladas and do whatever the hell we want," Scorpius slapped Al's chest and winked at him, which would have been painful if Scorpius wasn't such a pansy. "What do you say?"

* * *

Al turned him down, still angry that Scorpius blew him off in Potions class. Scorpius, however, decided to interpret Al's "no" as a "what a great idea, Scorpius!" The next morning during breakfast, Scorpius approached the Gryffindor table with a menacing scowl on his face.

"Hello, _Potter," _Scorpius hissed. Al dropped his toast and turned around, his face shocked and a little angry that Scorpius decided to mess with him even after he distinctly said he wanted nothing to do with him. Deep down, however, Al was glad Scorpius decided to ignore his request. James, however, was less than happy with Scorpius' arrival.

"Well, if it isn't Scorpius Malfoy," he said darkly, his mind preparing a plentiful amount of insults to throw at Scorpius. Scorpius looked at James, his eyebrow raised.

"What? No, I'm here to talk to your brother," he clarified. James looked to Al, and then back to Scorpius.

"My _brother?"_

Yes," Scorpius said darkly, "that's the Albus Potter I want to deal with. It's the _Potter _I _hate _the _most!" _

"I – I thought you hated me the most!!" James yelped, feeling as if he had been stabbed in the back by his most loyal companion. Scorpius gave him an encouraging smile.

"Don't worry, I hate you a lot."

"Yeah, but not more than my brother." James said, feeling incredibly jealous. "What, have these past six years meant nothing to you?"

"There's no need to be jealous, there's plenty of hate to go around," Scorpius told him. Al tapped James on the shoulder.

"Er, James, do you mind?" Al asked him, giving him an arrogant smile. James scooted over sadly, allowing Al to stand up and face Scorpius.

"Well, if it isn't _Scorpius Malfoy!!" _Al exclaimed dramatically, puffing out his chest and praying to god he looked masculine and not just stupid.

"Yes, it is I!" Scorpius responded, puffing his chest out in a manner similar to Al. Scorpius's grey eyes glared menacingly into Al's green ones.

"How's the family? Evil and inbred as usual?" Al asked smartly, feeling his bravado increase with every word he uttered.

"Shut up, Potter," Scorpius threatened, "we are not inbred!"

"Oh, right. Cousins are considered legal," Al responded, flashing his Gryffindor friends a gleaming smile as they laughed. James glared at Al and silently assured himself that if _he _were fighting with Scorpius, he would have said something just as witty.

"_You _should _know!" _Scorpius sneered. Rose rolled her eyes and sighed. Apparently, she found incest jokes _extremely _tedious and unoriginal.

"So, Scorpius," Al said, rolling up his sleeves and preparing himself to attack Scorpius with the worst insult known to man. "How's your mother?"

He paused dramatically

"Fat?!"

Scorpius glared at him. "Not as fat as _your _mother!" He retorted, "It must run in the family!"

"And I take it lacking male reproductive organs runs in _your _family!" Al yelled, pointing a finger at Scorpius. Scorpius didn't respond right away. Instead he blinked a few times and raised an eyebrow at Al.

"I – what?"

"I… I said you have no balls." Al clarified apologetically.

"How dare you! I have three!!"

"As do I!"

"Prove it!" Scorpius demanded, folding his arms across his chest with a smug facial expression. It was Al's turn to blink at Scorpius.

"What?"  
"With a duel!" Scorpius exclaimed while pulling out his wand and preparing for battle.

"Oh," Al said with burning cheeks, smiling bashfully to himself. No wonder James kept his feud with Scorpius going for so long; Al never had so much fun arguing in his entire life.

Unfortunately, their fake argument was broken up before they could get to the actual dueling. It wasn't the last time they publically argued. They developed a schedule of sorts: they would fight in the afternoons, and they would share each other's company in the evenings. They 

didn't always talk, usually they would help each other with homework or they'd sit back to back on a couch and read, or sometimes they'd ask the Room of Requirement for a chess set and play chess.

Their relationship was a peculiar one, but it was a nice one none the less. Scorpius' loud and outrageous personality didn't clash with Al's softer, shyer one. Instead, they blended together perfectly. Al became more outgoing not only with Scorpius, but with his other peers as well. He finally felt like "Al Potter," and not "James Potter's little brother." Scorpius' personality didn't particularly change; he was still obnoxious, overly flirtatious and pretty darn self centered. However, Al provided him a friendship that was strong and supportive, instead of the finicky and material friendships Scorpius was so used to. For a friendship that had formed a short while ago, Scorpius and Al felt like they've been friends for years, only better. Better, because there were things that they didn't know about each other, and that made the friendship much more interesting.

As their friendship developed, Al found himself more and more attracted to Scorpius. Instead of gradually hating himself more and more like he did with his previous crushes, his confidence and happiness grew every time Scorpius flashed him a handsome smile. One day, Al decided he would make a move and start a new life as a happy, confident young man who was actually getting some action.

"Hey Scorp, can I talk to you?" Al asked Scorpius, trying to keep his heart from beating too loudly. Never in his life had Al made a move on someone like Scorpius. Scorpius was eccentric, witty, sexy, everything that Al was not and everything that Al wasn't used to. He also had a Y chromosome, which was also very new for Al. Al made sure everything was perfect: he wore his cleanest sweater, attempted to comb his hair and prepared the room of requirement for a romantic evening.

"Sure," Scorpius said, looking at Al with steel grey eyes that only made Al's heart beat faster. "About what?"

Al gulped. "Well," he said after taking a deep breath, "about relationships." Al was about to reach for Scorpius's hand when Scorpius pulled it away and started making dramatic hand gestures.

"Oh god," he said, "Don't get me started on those. I am so glad I'm not in a relationship right now! I mean, perhaps I'd enjoy dating someone if I was dating, I don't know, a rogue vampire werewolf with stubble and a completely ripped body, but it always seems like I attract clingy awkward boys. Oh, look at me, I'm talking about myself. What were you going to ask?"

Al could feel his heart completely stop beating and sink into the pit of his stomach. All the confidence he had gained from Scorpius and his deceiving smiles evaporated, and Al felt even more alone than before.

"Er, should I uh, wear this sweater vest tomorrow when I uh, er, ask Amanda to go to Hogsmead with me?" Al stammered. He wasn't sure he even knew an Amanda, all he knew was that he couldn't let Scorpius see how heartbroken he was or their relationship would take a horribly awkward turn for the worse.

"I don't see why not. It's clean at least," Scorpius said nonchalantly. The two of them went back to their regular routine; they sat in the room of requirement and Al listened to Scorpius talk about his life. The only difference this time was that Al hated himself every time he looked into Scorpius' eyes.

* * *

The next morning, Al decided he _wasn't _going to shave. And the morning after that, he decided again, he wasn't going to shave. He didn't think it made him look like much of a sexy bad boy, but then again, he never looked like a sexy bad boy. Unfortunately for Al, the only person who noticed his new stubble was Lily, and he most certainly wasn't trying to impress her.

"Al, _why _do you have a five o clock shadow?" She complained, twirling her finger in her stylish red hair. "You look like you just came out of Azkeban."

"Do I look like a rogue vampire werewolf?" Al asked.

"A what?"

"Never mind."

Scorpius' reaction to Al's facial hair wasn't much better. When Scorpius saw Al in potions class, he looked almost sympathetic, as if he pitied Al for his pathetic attempt.

"Oh god, Al, did you get any sleep last night?" He asked with concern, forgetting that in public the two boys were supposed to be enemies.

"No," Al said flatly, not bothering to look Scorpius in the eye.

"I can tell by the five o clock shadow. Really, it doesn't suit you at all." With those words, Al rose from his seat and gathered up his books.

"Where on earth are you going?" Scorpius asked while grabbing Al's sleeve. "Class is about to start!"

"Fuck if I care," Al muttered, yanking his arm away from Scorpius' grasp and making his way towards the exit. It was in that moment - that one little moment of minor rebellion - that Scorpius realized he not only liked the old Al better, he was head over heels in love with him too.

* * *

A couple of months passed, and winter break came only after endless nights of studying and schoolwork. Both Al and Scorpius had families who wanted them home for the break, but the two of them promised to write each other during the holidays. Al was glad that he could fill his late evenings during break with sending Scorpius letters, but Scorpius was more than thrilled with the idea of writing to Al. Al's letters were what Scorpius was depending on to get through the break; he absolutely _hated _spending time with his parents.

Al didn't expect to see Scorpius until the end of the break, but oddly enough he saw him three days after the break started. It was during a family dinner, and his aunt and uncle, as well as Rose and Hugo, were joining Al's family for a family dinner. As usual, everyone was being passive aggressive towards each other about various topics while pretending that they were enjoying a friendly family dinner. When Al heard a knock on the front door, he was more than willing to answer. Expecting a bunch of obnoxious choral singers, Al opened the door only to see a very distraught Scorpius standing outside.

"Scorp?" Before Al could say another word, Scorpius threw his arms around Al and started sobbing into his shoulder.

"I don't know where to turn. I don't – please let me stay in your attic or something, I don't know what I'm going to do, I don't – god damn it, Al!" Al returned Scorpius's embrace, trying to calm him down. Meanwhile, the entire Potter-Weasley family was staring at the two of them, their jaws opened and their minds boggled.

"Er, family…" Al said while patting Scorpius' back in a manner he desperately hoped looked platonic, "This is Scorpius. Scorpius, this is my family." When Scorpius heard the word "family," he quickly pushed Al away from him and stood up straight, getting rid of his tears as quickly as humanly possible.

"Er, it's a pleasure to meet you all," Scorpius said, not staring at anyone in particular. "Some of you I know, er, already… wow, this is awkward." Rose shifted uncomfortably in her seat, while James shot death glares at Scorpius, as if daring him to say another word. Al looked at his family and looked back at Scorpius, as if wondering which one was going to speak next.

"Er," Al murmured, finally accepting that if he didn't want to spend the rest of eternity engulfed in an awkward silence, he was going to have to talk. "Could he stay here for a night or two, I guess?"

James was the first to speak in a long and painful argument. "No," he said harshly, still glaring at Scorpius.

"James –"

"Dad, he's a Malfoy!" James protested, interrupting his father. Ron took a bite of his pork tenderloin and said while chewing "Yeah, I'm with James on this one, Harry."

"Honestly Ron!" Hermione gasped, "Look at the poor boy, he's in tears!"

"I'm just lamenting!" Scorpius said defensively while wiping his bloodshot eyes. James ignored his aunt's protest and turned his attention back to Harry.

"Dad, think about – think about if Voldemort came to your house in the middle of a family dinner and asked if he could have a slumber party. That's my dilemma!" Ginny smacked James upside the head, who then gave a small yelp of pain.

"James, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

"No it's not!!" Hugo exclaimed, rising from his chair as if he was trying to inspire the entire household to protest baby eating. "There's numerous evidence of Voldemort's reincarnation!!" Then, Hugo pointed a dramatic finger at Scorpius. "Scorpius Malfoy is a weak, skinny impatient know it all; almost the complete opposite of Voldemort! The theory is that Voldemort was reincarnated into someone who people couldn't even imagine becoming as powerful as him! Scorpius fits those criteria!"

"Hugo, shut up!" Lily said before Scorpius could defend himself. "It's so stupid to turn him away just because of your ridiculous conspiracy theories when he's clearly in need of a place to stay!"

"Oh please, Lily, you just want him to spend the night so you can seduce him," Rose said coolly and casually, eating her salad as if she could care less about the current situation. Hermione shot a furious glare in her direction.

"Rose Weasley!!"

"I can't believe you're still mad about the whole Richard thing!" Lily yelled, getting up from her seat. "It's not my fault you're not feminine!" Rose then gave Lily a look very similar to the one Hermione gave her.

"I will rip that tongue right out of your filthy mouth!"

"Oh bring it, bitch!"

"_ENOUGH!!"_ Harry yelled, finally silencing the entire room. Lily and Rose sat back down, but refused to stop glaring at each other.

"Malfoy – _Scorpius,_ you may stay until we get this figured out," Harry said to Scorpius, who was enjoying the fight much more than he should have been. "I'd like to speak with your father about this situation, but for now, you're welcome."

"Thank you, Mr. Potter," Scorpius said quietly, looking around at the delicious food on the Potter-Weasley dining room table. "Does this mean I get dinner?"

"He can have mine, because I cannot _stand _being in the same room as Rose for another second!" Lily said dramatically, briskly leaving the table, her eyes full of tears. Rose rolled her eyes at the stupidity of the situation.

"Try stealing someone's boyfriend," she yelled at Lily, "that tends to make you feel better!" and with that, Rose left the room in a similar manner as Lily. As soon as Rose left the table, James got up from his chair and picked up his plate.

"I'll be eating in my room," he said plainly. Ginny shot James a look of desperation; pleading for him to be polite.

"James – "

"Mum, I'm not going to eat at the same table with a Slytherin!" James shot at her before leaving. Ginny rolled her eyes and groaned.

"Fine," she said bitterly. "Feel free to join us when you've grown up, alright James?"

"I'm full," Hugo said, pushing away a plate full of delicious food. Ron looked over at his son's plate, and then at his son with a look of concern.

"Hugo, you haven't even touched your food," he said.

"Dad, I told you, I'm fasting to honor the temporary extinction of the Crumple-Horned Snorklack, remember?"

"God, I was trying to forget," Ron said, rubbing his eyes.

"I'll be fasting until they're reincarnated as Blibbering Humdingers."

"Hugo, for god's sake, there's no such thing!" Hermione said desperately, silently asking god why her son was so incredibly bizarre. Hugo got up from his chair angrily.

"None of you _understand _me!" He yelled, displaying a tantrum that would have made a fifteen year old Harry proud. When he left the room, Ron sighed and shook his head.

"I better go check on him."

"I'll check on Rose."

"I'll check on Lily."

"I'll check on James." And with that, each of the adults left the table and went off in their separate directions, each one mentally preparing what they were going to say to their hormonal adolescent children. That left Scorpius and Al.

"Your family is bizarre," Scorpius finally said after taking it all in. Al just shrugged; this was nothing special to him, he grew up with it.

"Want some edibles?" he asked, gesturing to all the half eaten food on the table. Scorpius smiled.

"Yes please."

* * *

Read and Review please! Constructive criticism totally welcome, as long as you keep in mind I am not actually JK Rowling.

I did not come up with the Chuck Norris/Longbottom jokes. I got those from the Facebook group Neville Longbottom is a BAMF. I thought they were funny, so I put them in.


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

A/N: Hey guys! Ya miss me? Sorry it took so long to update; this was a really long chapter. I thought of breaking it up into two different chapters, but it didn't feel complete, so I didn't. Good news: I have the script for this fanfic completely finished, which means this fanfiction actually has an end! Usually I start my fanfics with no idea how to end them, so they're never finished, but I promise this one will be finished! Hopefully I'll finish it before college starts.

Speaking of which: I totally got into college guys! I'll be going to Ringling College of Art and Design and majoring in Computer Animation! It's so weird that I'm a senior in high school and still writing fanfiction. I started writing fanfiction in 9th grade. I have a feeling I'll be writing fanfiction when I'm in my 80's.

I hope you enjoy the chapter! As always, constructive criticism is welcome, but no flames!

* * *

Contrary to popular belief, the Slytherin house was _not _filled with conniving, vindictive inbred death eaters. They did not spend their evenings manipulating other students to accomplish their wicked goals, nor did they cackle while making poisoned apples. This was a stereotype hatched up by the Gryffindor student body. That stereotype will be passed down from generation to generation until the Gryffindor student body shuts up, which is about as likely as Albus Dumbledore asking Voldemort to slow dance. The Slytherin house was filled with teenagers that were like any other teenagers, although every stereotype _does _have a slight basis of truth. All pure blood families were slightly inbred, a few of the Slytherin students had more of a malicious cackle than a shy giggle, and all of them enjoyed eating candied apples that looked a little foreboding. Still, the fifth through seventh year students spend their weekends sitting in the common room, gossiping and joking together like any other catty teenager.

A few popular conversational (or drinking) games that the Slytherins liked to play were games like 'Truth or Dare,' 'Mary Screw Kill,' or 'Ten Fingers.' All these games eventually led to 'Tell me something really uncomfortable and personal about yourself that I don't already know.' The master of getting people to admit their deepest darkest secrets was Cassandra Zabini. Cassandra, an attractive sixth year, was the only other Slytherin who lost a game of ten fingers as quickly as Scorpius, and was also the person who tricked Scorpius into admitting he was gay his fourth year. Not only was Cassandra able to manipulate Scorpius into telling his dark secret, she was also able to make Jonathan admit to stealing his sister's bra so he could wear it and stare at himself in the mirror; she was able to force Marissa into admitting that she had an affair with the new Ancient Runes teacher, and she even made Cedrella tell everyone she was in love with the school weirdo – Lysander Scamander.

Rather than being furious with Cassandra, Scorpius was impressed. He came up to her afterwards and asked "How on earth were you able to do that?" Cassandra gave him a devilish smile.

"The trick isn't to ask the person directly. You ask a certain way, depending on the person. With you, I only had to ask you something that was slightly related to your sexuality. You love to talk about yourself so much that I just let you do the rest."

That evening, Cassandra asked Scorpius something completely inappropriate that was cleverly disguised a silly truth or dare question. "Scorpius, what is one word you would use to describe your parents?" was what she appeared to be asking. She really asked Scorpius if his parents were still death eaters. It was a foolish thing to ask, because Scorpius didn't even know the answer, let alone want to share it. He sat there for a while, pondering a sensitive topic that he generally liked to forget existed, while everyone else waited in a thick uncomfortable silence.

"Secretive," Scorpius finally stated, staring at Cassandra coldly, his grey eyes silently warning her not to ask for details. Scorpius Malfoy was all too familiar with the word "secret." He learned from an early age on to ask questions about the war or about his parents role in the war. The first time he brought it up by innocently asking about his father's funny tattoo, it resulted in a violent tantrum on his father's part, an icy cool exterior on his mothers part, and a tearful night on Scorpius's part. Sometimes he felt he was raised to be a secret keeper for his parents; to give up his entire life at any time to protect his family's secrets that he didn't even know about.

"And?" Cassandra stared back at him, desperately waiting for an endless monologue to come pouring out of his mouth, or at least a follow up sentence. Scorpius responded with a cool smirk.

"You wanted one word," he told her casually. It was the first time that Cassandra's tactic didn't work on Scorpius, and it was one of the only moments Scorpius didn't feel like talking about himself.

* * *

"So, want to tell me what's going on?" Al asked Scorpius, handing him a warm mug of Chamomile tea. The two of them moved from the kitchen into Al's room, and Al changed into his striped winter pajamas while Scorpius simply stripped down to his boxers and undershirt. Al was sitting on his bed while Scorpius was sitting on the spare bed Al conjured up for the night. Many people believe it's easier to share your secrets with your friends than it is to share your secrets with your acquaintances.

"No." Scorpius was not one of those people. He believed that it most certainly _wasn't _easier to share your secrets with your friends; in fact, it's harder, because losing a friend is much more heartbreaking than losing an acquaintance. Besides, as much as he hated to admit it, he wasn't sure what he'd do without Al's friendship. It wasn't that Al was his only friend. Scorpius was really quite popular amongst his fellow Slytherin's. Al was just the only friend Scorpius liked and the only human being Scorpius was falling madly in love with. Al stared at Scorpius, his eyes full of concern, while Scorpius avoided eye contact and sipped his tea.

"Alright," Al said softly, slightly hurt that Scorpius didn't want to confide in him. The two of them sat in silence. Scorpius eyed his surroundings, noting the Chuddly Cannons poster on the wall that was positioned next to a calendar with a curvaceous witch in a Santa Claus hat, waving at winking at the two boys. Scorpius suspected it was a gift from James, (or at least, he hoped it was.) Scorpius' eyes then landed on the massive mahogany bookshelf that was as tall as Al's ceiling, looking very out of place with the Quidditch posters and the pile of dirty socks that seemed to be the theme of Al's room. His room was so homely and so honest, making Scorpius feel just as out of place as the bookshelf.

"My father found out I was gay," Scorpius stated reluctantly, figuring he at least owed it to Al to tell him half the story, if not the whole story.

"Oh my god, Scorp," Al gasped, acting as if he was just told about a tragic accident. "I'm so sorry. Is there anything I can – Christ, how did he find out?" Al's reaction was very typical. He was more concerned than he needed to be, and he was too eager to help as well. It would have made it a lot easier on Scorpius if he was, for once, not a sweet, sensitive guy with beautiful green eyes.

"I told him," Scorpius stated simply. Al furrowed his eyebrows.

"You – you told him?"

"Yes. I told him."

"Wow. You just straight out told him?" Scorpius smiled coolly.

"I'm not sure 'straight' is the right adjective, but in a sense, yes," he replied, setting his tea down on the bedside table, looking calm and collected as ever. Al, on the other hand, kept his gaze on Scorpius, practically pleading for a reaction from him that was easier to understand.

"I take it he didn't react the way you expected," he said softly. Scorpius laughed when Al said this.

"He threatened to torture me, curse me, disinherit me... He reacted exactly how I wanted him to react," he stated nonchalantly, finally looking at Al with an eerie look in his eye.

"You - wanted him to disapprove?" Al asked, not understanding the situation at all.

"Honestly Al?" Scorpius said harshly, "Are you that stupid? I told him to piss him off. I told him so he could hate me as much as I hate him." There was an awkward silence that followed.

"I'm so sorry Scorpius," Al said tentatively. This response obviously was not the right one for Scorpius.

"Why do you keep saying that?" He snapped, frustrated by Al's lack of understanding and the fact that he couldn't just keep this to himself. "What are you sorry about? This is exactly what I wanted!"

"Then why were you crying just a few minutes ago?" Al demanded, this time abandoning his hopes of comforting Scorpius and now simply trying to understand what Scorpius was going through. Scorpius's face flushed with embarrassment at the mention of his tearful breakdown.

"I – I don't know," he stammered. "I must be tired. I'm going to bed." Scorpius turned his back to Al and began tearing the sheets off of the extra bed. Al bit his lip, the concern never leaving his face.

"You know Scorp," he said after a moment of tense silence, his voice soft and comforting, "I think your father will come around eventually."

"Al," Scorpius said, turning around to face him and glared at him coldly, "what the fuck are you doing? Do you honestly not know what I'm trying to do? I don't _want _him to come around. I want to hurt him. I want to make him die of shame." There was a heavy silence after this outburst; Al truly didn't know what to say to that.

"Okay," he said, afraid that if he said anything else, Scorpius would snap at him again. "I'm sorry."

"Don't give me that self righteous look!" Scorpius demanded to Al, who was quite unaware that he was giving Scorpius such a look. "I know what I'm saying, and I mean every single bloody word of it. My father – my entire family…" Scorpius gave a frustrated sigh, and finally looked Al straight in the eye without any sign of resentment. "I know you think I'm being harsh on my father right now. I know you think I'm just being a rebellious teenager, and that I'm just being showy and dramatic like I always am, because _you _can't imagine hating, and I mean _really _hating your parents, but here's the difference between our families, Potter," Scorpius pointed a finger at Al, the resentment back in his voice, "Your family is filled with martyrs and heroes, people who will go down in history. My family is filled with cowards. Cruel, brutal, selfish cowards."

Scorpius could feel the tears swelling up in his eyes, and turned his face away from Al in embarrassment. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice choking up, "It's just – the more I find out about Voldemort; about the death eaters, the more I hate myself."

"That wasn't you," Al insisted. Scorpius laughed, his voice still choking up.

"Oh no shit Al. I had no idea. Do you think that matters? That's still a part of me, just like the famous Harry Potter is a part of you. It's not like that's been completely erased. God, I don't deserve to - I mean, look at you. You're this kind, noble, courageous human being, and I'm a cruel, nasty, weak little queer."

"Scorpius, you are not! Well, I guess you are a queer, but that's not –"

"Look, Al," Scorpius said, his voice cool and calm, the voice Al was used to hearing when Scorpius was being particularly cruel to someone, "I appreciate the pep talks, but they're not helping. Just because I'm in your home doesn't mean I came here to talk to you. It just means I need a place to sleep." Scorpius couldn't see the hurt in Al's face after he made the comment, but he knew it was there. It didn't make him feel any better than before, knowing that he'd hurt his best friend and unrequited love interest's feelings.

"Um… Alright," Al stated, accepting defeat and turning away from Scorpius. "Good night."

* * *

Al needed to separate himself from Scorpius for a few minutes after that uncomfortable conversation. He needed to gather his thoughts and decide how he should handle the situation, and he knew he had to come up with a rational decision. He also knew that no rational decision could be reached if he was alone with Scorpius; _especially _not if Scorpius was looking so vulnerable and so painfully handsome at the same time.

He needed to sort out his feelings for Scorpius. Al was smitten, and it was unlike any feeling he'd ever held for somebody before. Despite popular belief, Al had attractive male friends other than Scorpius. Quidditch friends. Study friends. However, Al couldn't even compare his closest friends to Scorpius. For some reason that he could not explain, Al felt a deep sense of loyalty and affection towards Scorpius, and for reasons that were a bit more obvious, Al was incredibly attracted to him. The hard part was deciding what his _feelings _were. Al couldn't decide if he was hurt or angry or simply disappointed by the fact Scorpius was uninterested in him and unwilling to open up to him.

He also had no idea what Scorpius thought of him. There were times when Scorpius would be so sweet and so charming around Al. Then there were times when Scorpius would go beyond being just a flirt or a tease and be downright seductive. Then there were times when Scorpius would be cruel to Al without giving any explanation. The only logical conclusion that Al could think of was that Scorpius viewed Al as entertainment, and that's about it. Whenever Al thought of that very likely possibility, he couldn't feel anger or confusion, he could only feel a painful aching feeling in his chest.

Al decided that these chest problems he was having obviously couldn't be considered heartaches and that he should treat them like regular chest problems. He decided to go to the kitchen and make himself a glass of water.

"Al, may we speak to you for a second?" Al heard his father's voice from within the living room, and he immediately wished he had chosen _not _to get a glass of water and to stay away from his parents as much as possible. Reluctantly, Al made his way into the living room. Al's mom was sitting on the couch next to Al's dad. Both looked tired and frustrated.

"Am I in trouble?" Al asked as he studied their faces. Usually when Al or his siblings were asked to speak with their parents "for a second," it usually meant that someone was caught doing something they shouldn't and needed a long but inspirational lecture.

"No, it's not that," Harry said, scratching his head and looking slightly uncomfortable. "Your mother and I would just feel more comfortable if we knew why Draco Malfoy's son is spending the night with us."

"Ah," Al said blankly. He knew this was coming, but a small optimistic part of him was praying that his parents might have been unfazed by Scorpius' dramatic meltdown in the foyer. "Right," he continued. "Er… I don't know, dad, it's sort of his own private business," Al explained, not wanting to tell his parents about Scorpius' upsetting monologue.

"Al," Ginny said, "tell us or we're not getting you a new Firebolt."

"He's a queer, and his dad hates him," Al stated quickly. He shrugged. "That's basically it." There was a small pause and Al couldn't read either of his parent's expressions. They simply continued looking tired and frustrated, as if lecturing their son was more of a burden to them than it was to Al.

"Okay…" Harry sighed, searching for the right way to approach the situation. "We really can't keep him here all Christmas break, you know that Al."

"Oh god, I'd love explaining that to dad," Ginny muttered.

"What am I supposed to do?" Al demanded. "He's my… arch nemesis turned friend… thing. I mean, I can't just turn him away!"

"Sure you can," Ginny said while yawning. "Just name your son after him, it's what we did." She smiled at Harry, who smiled back and shook his head at her.

"Mum, that's awful!" Al exclaimed, angry that his mom would suggest he send Scorpius back to his home after what he went through. "I'm not going to kick him out just because it makes you two uncomfortable!"

"The only reason it makes us uncomfortable is because his parents have no idea where he is," Ginny explained to Al calmly, trying to show Al that she wasn't biased and really was trying to do the right thing.

"They're muggle hating nut-jobs, they don't need to know where he is," Al retorted.

"He's got a point, Ginny," Harry said.

"That may be so, but they're still his parents."

"Parents who hate him!" Al argued.

"Al," Harry said calmly, "I highly doubt they hate him."

"Then why'd they threaten to disinherit him?!" Al demanded.

"Its' probably just an empty threat to get Scorpius to behave. We use it on you children all the time," Ginny stated calmly. Harry raised an eyebrow at his wife.

"Er, Ginny…"

"You don't know that! You don't know what goes on in that family! You don't know if Scorpius was in danger or not!" Al said, his voice getting louder with every sentence. Harry looked at his son in shock. He expected this from James, maybe even from Lily, but Al usually was the child who cooperated with his parents and tried to understand their side of the story. Instead, Al was getting fed up with how condescendingly the two of them shot down Al's arguments.

"You're right, Al. I don't know what goes on in the Malfoy family," Ginny said, clearly getting fed up with Al as well. "If Scorpius really is in danger in that household, then your father and I will be more than happy to let him stay as long as he needs to while social services look into it. However, we don't know that this isn't a perfectly normal family feud, and if it _is, _then your father and I have no right to keep Scorpius hidden from his parents."

"No, mum!" Al whispered furiously, and to his dismay, he could hear how childish he sounded. "His dad threatened to torture him! I know you don't give a shit about the Malfoy family because of your stupid grudge but I care about Scorpius!!" He continued. Al could feel his face turning red with frustration.

"Al, I'm not trying to be the villain! I'm being the responsible adult! Now we're not arguing this anymore. I'm sending an owl in the morning." And with that, Ginny left the living room in a huff, leaving Harry and his son alone.

"Your mum's right, Al," Harry told his son calmly. "We can't keep Scorpius here without his parent's knowledge if they're worried about him."

"He's not going to admit to anything, dad. I really think his parents might be abusive," Al said.

"Did he tell you this?"

"Well, no, but he talks about how awful they are all the time! And he has too much pride to say if his parents curse him every night or not."

"Al, the mature thing for your mum and me to do is to contact his parents."

Al rolled his eyes and bitterly accepted defeat. "Fine," he said blankly, "I don't care. I'm going to go to bed," Al was about to leave the living room when he felt his father place a hand on his shoulder.

"Al?"

"Yeah?" Al asked. Harry's eyes were filled with concern, and Al thought for a second that maybe he was going to side with him.

"Please tell me you and Malfoy aren't – "

"Aren't what?"

"Oh, how do I put this… you two aren't romantically involved, are you?" So much for being on Al's side.

"What?" Al gasped, trying a little too hard to act shocked. "No! No, I'm not gay, we're just – no, we're just arch enemies turned sort of friends. That's it."

"Just checking," Harry said, giving Al a smile of fatherly approval that made Al's stomach sink.

"Er, what if I said I was?" Al asked, wincing a little and hoping he wouldn't regret asking the question.

Harry frowned at Al, and gave him a suspicious look. "I'd disinherit you," He said without any hesitation. There was an uncomfortable pause. After what felt like an eternity to Al, Harry smiled and pat Al on the shoulder. "I'm kidding. Get some rest."

Al quietly slipped into his dimly lit bedroom, tiptoeing as silently as possible to his lamp. He was about to switch off the light when he glanced at Scorpius. This glance turned into a stare, which then turned into a longing gaze. His friend was sleeping peacefully, his facial expression void of any sarcastic smirk or devilish grin; he looked like a sleeping angel. Al smiled to himself, noting how absurd it was to be thinking of Scorpius as an angel. Despite this oxy-moron, Al couldn't help himself. He silently admired his smooth white skin, his pale blonde hair, and his beautifully shaped jaw line that always sent a shiver up Al's spine. There were times when all he could think about was tracing Scorpius' jaw line with kisses, and the only thing holding Al back at the moment was his own fear of humiliation.

He thought of Scorpius' self hatred. It was so strange, and almost _painful_, to think of Scorpius, the most confident and self absorbed person Al knew, to hate himself that much. The worst part was that Al couldn't say anything to help him. Al could've told him over and over again that he was not his parents, but Scorpius wasn't an idiot. He knew in his mind that he was not the same as his parents. The problem was that he didn't know that in his heart. Al moved to Scorpius and sat on his bed.

"Scorp," he whispered. Scorpius didn't move. "Scorp!" he hissed loudly. "Wake up." Scorpius groaned and sat up in his bed.

"Whu?" he sighed as he rubbed his eyes and squinted at Al. Before he could say anything more, Al gently wrapped his arms around his thin frame and placed his chin on Scorpius' shoulder. Al could feel Scorpius' body become tense in response to Al's touch, but he ignored this and continued holding him. "Al?" Scorpius whispered, as if asking Al if he realized what he was doing.

"I get that there's nothing I can say to make you feel better, but I refuse to believe that there is nothing I can _do." _Al whispered in Scorpius' ear, which made Scropius' heart beat faster with a mixture of adoration and anticipation.

"Could you have at least waited until I was awake to make me feel better?" Scorpius asked quietly while smiling. Al laughed silently and held onto Scorpius tighter. Scorpius relaxed and finally returned Al's embrace.

"Thank you," Scorpius whispered.

* * *

Al awoke the next morning to Scorpius' voice bombarding him with questions. At first, Al wasn't quite sure he was awake. It seemed too much like some cliché fantasy to be waking up to Scorpius' voice. It wasn't until Al could make clear of what Scorpius was bugging him about that he realized it was no fantasy.

"Al, may I take a shower before you? According to my roommates I take a while in the shower, but it's because I like to gently massage my hair with the shampoo, and _then _rinse! It's an art, really. It's the reason my hair is so shockingly beautiful." Al opened his eyes to see Scorpius leaning over him, tossing his hair and smiling. Al grumbled softly.

"Huh? Whu?"

"Rise and shine gorgeous! It's a brand new day and I am well rested and perky!" Scorpius said while patting Al gently on the cheek. Al pushed Scorpius away and looked at his clock.

"What the fuck, Scorpius? It's 8:00 in the morning!" Al groaned. He turned over and placed his pillow over his head, not wanting to hear Scorpius' voice piercing through his ears. Scorpius pulled the sheets of Al's bed, causing Al to shriek rather effeminately and curl up in the fetal position. He threw the pillow off his head and glared at Scorpius.

"Did I do that?" Scorpius asked innocently. "I'm sorry. It was truly an accident. I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to get facials with your sister around 9:30. Apparently there's a fantastic spa near your neighborhood, and you didn't inform me of this. Some friend _you _are." Al shook his head at Scorpius.

"Scorp, why are you telling me this? I don't _care."_

"Well my lord, Al, I didn't want you to wake up to discover I had left and used up all your shampoo."

"God, I'm not a morning person," Al muttered while rubbing his forehead. Scorpius smiled at him and ruffled his messy black hair.

"Yes, I can see that, princess. Well, I'm off to the shower! May I use your shampoo? I'm using it anyway."

"Scorp, may I ask you a personal question?" Al asked Scorpius, figuring it was now or never. Scorpius' smile faded slightly.

"Of course."

"Do your parents abuse you?" Al wasn't sure what he expected Scorpius to say to that, but he didn't expect a _normal _reaction. He expected Scorpius to bite his lip and look away from Al. He expected Scorpius to stammer over his words and try to hide behind his lies. He wouldn't have been surprised if burst into tears.

"What? No," Scorpius said blandly. It didn't sound like Scorpius was _trying_ to be casual, it just sounded like he _was_ being casual.

"You can tell me if they do, Scorp," Al said sincerely.

"But… they don't."

"You said last night that they threatened to torture you!" Al protested. He was determined to get Scorpius to admit to him that his parents abused him, whether Scorpius wanted to or not.

"Well sure. It's called an empty threat Al," Scorpius laughed as he shrugged. "Besides," Scorpius said while flexing his arm muscles, "do you _really _think my parents could successfully crucio _this?_" Al glared at Scorpius, partly because Scorpius' arrogance was incredibly tedious, but mainly because, once again, his mother was right. Scorpius was _not _getting abused, and the Malfoy parents, like the Potter parents, used a lot of empty threats. Al sighed, rolled over in his bed and went back to sleep. Scorpius smiled at Al, picked up the sheets he had pulled off earlier, and tucked Al in gently before making his way to Al's bathroom.

Al woke up again at noon, only to discover that Scorpius had indeed used up all his shampoo. Admittedly, he was running low on shampoo _anyway, _but it didn't stop Al from cursing Scorpius' feminine habits. He meandered into Lily's bedroom, who, unfortunately, was sharing her room with Rose. Rose decided to spend her morning vandalizing Lily's bedroom and putting curses on pictures of some boy Al could only assume was Richard.

"Er, Rose?" Al said tentatively. Rose spun around, her frizzy hair astray and wand in hand.

"What?" She demanded. Al looked at the giant picture of Richard that was behind her. Richard was currently writhing in pain on the floor, his hands desperately reaching out to the camera in a plea for help. Al gulped.

"May I use your shampoo? Scorpius used all of mine," Al said quickly, smiling at Rose politely while trying to mask his fear.

"Oh." Rose said, lowering her wand. "Sure."

"Thank you," Al said. He walked into Lily's bathroom and sorted through the many bottles in her shower.

"Al, speaking of Scorpius… how close are you two?" Rose inquired from the other room. Al shrugged.

"Er, close? Why?" He said blankly, tossing aside the many conditioners and body washes that Lily owned. God forbid she should own _just _shampoo and _just _soap.

"I just think Scorpius is pretty attractive, in an inbred Neo-death eater sort of way," Rose responded devilishly. Al sighed. He understood that Rose just went through a rough break up, but trying to bed an obviously gay man was a little desperate, especially for Rose.

"Rose, he's not your type," Al said, _finally _coming across a bottle of shampoo.

"Well _obviously, _he's more feminine than _I _am. I'm talking about for _you," _Rose snapped. Al felt his face turn red as the bottle of shampoo slipped out of his hands and onto the bathroom floor. He quickly picked up the small bottle and hurried out of the bathroom.

"I'm not going to talk about this with you," he said, brushing past Rose and heading towards the door. Rose grabbed Al's arm to prevent him from leaving.

"Al, I know you're afraid, and you have every right to be, but are you going to go your entire life hiding in the closet?"

"Why not?" Al retorted. "Albus Dumbledore did, and he turned out just fine!"

"He clearly _didn't _spend his entire life in the closet if you know he was homosexual, you idiot!" Rose snapped at Al.

"He was outed _after _his death," Al clarified. There _was _a difference, after all. Then, with a grin, he said "and I must say, if I was into rotting corpses that share my name, he'd be number one on my list." Al said this just to annoy Rose, and judging by the eye rolling, it had worked.

"Oh _god, _Al, why do you always lust after historical figures?!"

"Better than lusting after Richard," Al muttered, raising an eyebrow at a picture of Richard's decapitated head.

"I don't want to talk about it!!" Rose shrieked. She ran off out of the room, leaving behind her suffering pictures of Richard.

Around lunch time, Lily and Scorpius returned from their facials, laughing at god knows what and making dramatic hand gestures in the kitchen while Al was eating his breakfast. Al had just gotten out of the shower and was wearing a grey t shirt and the same jeans he wore yesterday. His damp hair was uncombed. His appearance contrasted greatly with Lily's bold style with her many accessories and Scorpius' sleek fashion sense. Al noted silently that he had forgotten to offer to let Scorpius borrow some of his clothing, but he decided that was alright since Scorpius was smart enough to pack some clothes before leaving his house and probably didn't want to base his clothing style off of Al's anyway. Scorpius greeted Al pleasantly, who nodded and continued shoving eggs into his mouth. Scorpius and Lily continued talking about some play that was showing at some theater as Scorpius made himself a glass of ice water using his wand. He then said something about taking a nap with the Potter's cat and cheerfully left the room.

"_So_, Scorpie is cute," Lily said teasingly, poking Al's shoulder and smiling at him sweetly. Al felt as if the eggs in his mouth had just turned into mud. He swallowed quickly and stared at Lily for an awfully long time.

"Scorpie?"

"We got facials together this morning. I think he's flaming. Don't _you?" _Lily continued, putting a lot of emphasis on the word "you" and leaning in closer to Al, as if trying to intimidate him with her cuteness.

"Lily, I'm not gay," Al said blankly.

"I wasn't asking if _you _were gay, I was asking if _Scorpie _was gay."

"I don't know."

"You're lying."

"Am not."

"Yes you are. You're turning bright red."

"Er… Richard!"

"I don't want to talk about it!!!" Lily then stormed out of the kitchen in a huff and that was the end of that.

To avoid the rest of his family members, (especially James,) Al slipped into the Library, only to find Scorpius sprawled out on a couch, practically taunting Al. He was fed up with all of it. He could hear Rose's nagging voice in the back of his mind, constantly asking him "are you going to stay in the closet the rest of your life?!" He wanted to hex her into the next dimension and continue moping in peace. He was sick of Lily dropping hints that she knew he was madly in love with Scorpius, and he was sick of her calling him Scorpie, like he was another one of her stupid, superficial friends. If Scorpius had a nickname, it would be "Scorp," and he would be Al's non-superficial friend. Al's brilliant, clever, beautifully sarcastic friend who was terribly attractive.

Al found himself yet again watching Scorpius sleep, ignoring how creepy it was and contently enjoyed watching Scorpius' chest rise and fall. He imagined what it would be like to lay on top of him; to inhale his scent and to let his hands freely explore his body. The dirtier his thoughts got, the more complicated his emotions became. He'd feel heat and longing, then happiness which was quickly followed by embarrassment and shame. Al's thoughts were interrupted by his fat cat jumping on top of Scorpius and lying down on his chest, resting his head on his paws and closing his eyes slowly. Never, in his entire life, had Al been more jealous of that stupid cat.

"Hey, Al?" Al turned around and saw Hugo standing in the doorway. Al glared at him, daring him to question Al's sexuality.

"I'm not gay, alright?" He snapped at Hugo. "I'm not gay, and I know nothing about Scorpius's sexual preferences, and even if I did, it's none of my business and it's none of your business and you all just need to grow up, alright? Do I make myself perfectly clear!?" Hugo blinked.

"Er… can I borrow your owl? I've been grounded from mine." Al was silent for an awfully long time, all the while glaring at Hugo, who looked as if he was unsure of if he should run away or not.

"Sure," Al finally said. Hugo slipped out of the room without saying thank you. Al turned to look at Scorpius, and the cat on Scorpius' chest was looking straight at Al with half opened eyes.

"Shut up," Al retorted. The cat then went back to sleeping on Scorpius' chest, and Al left the room in frustration.

* * *

After Scorpius finished taking a relaxing nap, he strolled into the kitchen to make himself a sandwich. He saw a dark haired teenager digging through the fridge, and at first Scorpius thought it was Al. When he turned around, however, Scorpius found himself looking at Al's significantly less attractive brother, James. Admittedly, he wasn't _actually _that unattractive, but he was and asshole and didn't have Al's beautiful eyes. Scorpius instinctively whipped out his wand and prepared himself for a duel. James, on the other hand, glared at Scorpius' wand and opened a jar of jam.

"Put that away, you wanker. Do you want to stay here or not?" James asked, placing the jam on a counter and spreading it onto a piece of bread using his wand. Scorpius' cheeks flushed with slight embarrassment as he placed his wand back in his pocket.

"Sorry, guess I'm so used to seeing you at school – why am I apologizing to you? Out of my way!" Scorpius demanded. After all, James was blocking the fridge and Scorpius was desiring pickles.

"I need to talk to you, Malfoy," James said lazily, not moving away from the fridge.

"What do you want?"

"Why are you here?" James asked harshly. He really was trying to be civil, but being civil didn't mean he had to be polite.

"None of your business," Scorpius retorted sharply.

"It's my business if you're living with me!"

"Look, I'll just try to stay out of your way, and you won't even notice I'm here," Scorpius stated calmly, brushing past James and looking through the fridge. James placed his hand on Scorpius' shoulder and spun him around aggressively.

"No, that's not good enough! I want to know why you're here, and why you and my brother are suddenly so close," James demanded. Scorpius was rather shocked by James' aggression; it wasn't as if Scorpius had stolen a baby, he was just spending the night at the Potter's house! "Well?" James insisted. Scorpius took a step back and prepared his explanation.

"Alright, look… Al and I have been friends for a while. This entire first semester, we've been getting drunk together in the room of requirement," Scorpius explained rationally, understanding that this news might be slightly shocking for James. He then added quickly, "Actually, _I've _been getting drunk, Al's pretty sober himself."

"Honestly? I didn't even know Slytherin's _knew _about the Room of Requirement," James said, his voice filled with astonishment.

"_Everybody _knows about the Room of Requirement, you dumbass!" Scorpius replied angrily. James didn't take this comment well and pointed his wand threateningly at Scorpius.

"Watch it, Malfoy," he snarled. Scorpius took another two steps back away from James and raised his hands up to show he meant no harm.

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry!" He said hastily. James glared at Scorpius for a while and finally lowered his wand.

"So Al went behind my back and befriended my arch nemesis?" James said indignantly, as if asking god why he would allow such injustice. Scorpius rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his chest.

"Al's a big boy, Potter. He can befriend whoever he damn well pleases," Scorpius said lazily. James paid no attention to Scorpius and continued talking to himself.

"I can't believe that dipshit!" He said. "We're brothers; we're blood! And this is how he repays me!"

"Oh get over yourself, you bloody wanker," Scorpius snapped at James. James quickly brought up his wand and pointed it at Scorpius.

"I swear to god Malfoy – "

"What's going on here?" Scorpius spun around to see Mrs. Potter in the kitchen doorway, glaring at James. "Damn it, James, quit antagonizing our guest!" Mrs. Potter snapped at him sharply.

"But mum –!"

"No buts!" She retorted, making her way over to James and snatching his wand out of his hand. It was more than slightly amusing, seeing James being completely terrified of a woman who was a good foot shorter than him. Scorpius folded his arms and smirked triumphantly at James.

"You can wipe that smirk off your face young man," Mrs. Potter snapped at Scorpius, whose smirk quickly vanished. "I don't care if you're a runaway Philosopher's Stone, you have to follow the household rules too, and that means no bickering! James, it's your turn to de gnome the garden. Don't give me that look, winter break isn't all fun and games." James left the kitchen, glaring once more at Scorpius before leaving. As soon as James was gone, Mrs. Potter turned to Scorpius and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Scorpius, honey, your father's coming this afternoon." Scorpius' jaw dropped.

"My _father!?" _

"You're looking forward to it as much as I am," Mrs. Potter muttered.

"But, but you don't understand!" Scorpius protested. "He can't come; you don't know the whole story!" Mrs. Potter bit her lip.

"That's not quite true," she said tentatively. "Please don't get angry when I tell you this, but Al told Harry and me everything."

"_Al _doesn't know the whole story!" Scorpius protested. "Mrs. Potter, _please, _my father can't come; he'll _kill _me! He'll probably kill Al too! He'll kill me, Al, you, Mr. Potter, uh, that cat right there, he'll go crazy!" Scorpius told her, a significant tone of desperation in his voice. Mrs. Potter smiled.

"Scorpius, do you honestly think Harry or I would let Draco Malfoy kill anybody under our roof? It'll be fine," She reassured him.

"But he's a vindictive liar!!" Scorpius insisted. "He'll say things about me that will make you want me to leave, but none of them are true!! He's, he's a horrible human being! Did you know he used to be a death eater!? Yeah, I bet you didn't know that! Mr. Potter's an Auror, right? He could take his ass down! He's horrible! I hate him! _You _hated him! You should understand!" Mrs. Potter looked at Scorpius for a little while, unsure of what to say.

"Sweetheart, do you want to tell me the whole story?" She asked sweetly, her voice filled with a mothers concern. Scorpius thought of the real reason he left his home and felt his face flush with embarrassment.

"No," He said softly. "No offense," he added quickly. "I _do_ greatly admire you. You're a fantastic Quidditch player. I guess it's where Al gets all his talent." Mrs. Potter smiled.

"I like you," she said, patting his arm. "Your father's still coming."

"Damn it!" Scorpius cursed under his breath.

"Would you like a household job to keep your mind off of the encounter?" Mrs. Potter offered enthusiastically, as if this were the perfect solution to his problem. Scorpius crinkled his nose and raised an eyebrow in slight disgust.

"As tempting as that sounds, I think I'll sit in the fetal position for a while, if you don't mind," He told her gloomily. Mrs. Potter furrowed her eyebrows in concern.

"Alright," she sighed. She turned to leave, and for some reason Scorpius could not pinpoint, he felt the sudden urge to tell Mrs. Potter the truth.

"Actually, Mrs. Potter?" Scorpius said reluctantly, wincing a little as he did so. Mrs. Potter turned around.

"Yes?" She asked. Scorpius gulped.

"Er, I suppose you have a right to know everything," He stammered. "I mean, the third wizarding war is about the go down in your house; you have a right to know why. Please don't tell anybody. Especially not Al," He asked her.

"May I tell Harry?" Mrs. Potter asked him politely.

"Oh god, that's just what I need." He replied sarcastically. "The famous Harry Potter knowing I want to sodomize his son. Why not just throw me in Azkaban right now?" As soon as he finished his sentence, Mrs. Potter's eyes widened in shock as she tried desperately not to make herself look like a stunned idiot. Scorpius was less successful in accomplishing this. He smiled awkwardly, hoping maybe that if he smiled enough his last sentence would be forgotten.

"Pretend I didn't say that."

* * *

Ginny considered herself a very open minded person, especially when it came to homosexuality. After all, she played for the Hollyhead Harpies. The number of lesbian friends she made during those years was practically never ending. And when her brother Percy came out of the closet (and god knows that it would happen to at least one of the Weasley kids… to many of them for it not to happen) she was the most supportive out of all the Weasley's. Not that any of the Weasley's were unsupportive. George and Ron made a few off color jokes, but nobody was horrified.

However, when it came to her son, Ginny was a little more… protective. It wasn't that she disapproved of him being gay. First of all, she wasn't sure he was. If he was, then she was more worried than unsupportive. She saw her brother go through a lot of problems with his work, and because his job was so political he decided to get a marriage of convenience. She didn't want to see her son go through the same problems.

On top of that, she wasn't quite sure how fond she was of Scorpius Malfoy. He was charming, witty, handsome, and had a colorful family history. She could easily see someone like him take advantage of her soft spoken too-polite-for-his-own-good son.

Ginny decided it was best to not tell Harry. She didn't want her husband to be too suspicious of Scorpius Malfoy, and after all, Scorpius was Al's friend. She knew that if he was good enough to be Al's friend, she should respect his wishes. However, she soon forgot that she decided to keep Scorpius' secret and told Harry. Unfortunately for Scorpius, Ginny and Harry were the kind of couple that told each other everything. This was partly because they felt honesty was very important to a successful marriage. This was also partly because at the age of 41, Ginny was still as gossipy as a thirteen year old girl and Harry was the only one who loved her enough to listen to her.

"Oh no. Please, tell me it isn't true," Harry groaned. He and Ginny were sitting together on a couch in the study. Harry looked at his wife, silently begging her for this to be an early April Fool's joke. Her facial expression was all he needed to see to know it was no joke.

"Fuck my life," he said in a monotonous voice. Ginny slapped Harry's arm for cursing.

"Harry, this doesn't mean _anything," _Ginny reassured him. Harry sighed and looked at Ginny.

"What if Al's gay?" He asked. Not necessarily asking it as if it were awful, just a possibility. A rather unfortunate possibility.

"Just because Scorpius Malfoy –"

"Oh god! And he's a Malfoy!"

"Harry, please," Ginny scolded. "We aren't at Hogwarts anymore. Besides, we don't even know if Al is gay or not. What on earth would make you think such a thing?"

"Oh I don't know! How about the fact he's never had a girlfriend. Good god, how about the fact he's never once looked at a girl in his life?"

"That's not true," Ginny said pointedly.

"Ginny, when I was his age, all I could think about was getting in your pants!" Harry told her. He then scratched his head for a moment. "Well, that's not necessarily true. I spent a lot of sixth year thinking about Voldemort." Ginny laughed.

"Same thing, really," she said sarcastically.

"But do you understand what I'm saying? Al – he's nothing like James and Lily when it comes to dating. He just seems so much more secretive about it." Harry told her.

"Just because he hasn't had a girlfriend yet – "

"It's more than just that. He doesn't like talking about romance or the possibility of romance at all." Harry said. Ginny waved her arm, as if waving the argument away.

"Well, no one wants to talk about their love life with their parents. For all we know, Al could have already dated plenty of girls and we didn't even realize it," she told him. Harry sighed, not believing any of what Ginny was saying.

"Yes. Yes I guess you're right. I guess Al is just a very secretive about his love life," he said, trying to reassure himself more than her.

There was a brief pause.

"He's so gay," Ginny said.

"Damn it."

"Well so what if he is?" Ginny asked.

"His life will be awful! It'll be much more difficult for him to be taken seriously, especially if he wants to be an Auror like he says he does. Ginny, you know it's true."

"That's _not true. _My brother's gay, he turned out fine!" Ginny argued. Harry gave her an 'are you nuts?' look.

"Ginny, he married a woman and had two children so he could get a promotion!" Ginny shrugged when Harry made this argument.

"You can't blame him for being ambitious!" Ginny said. Harry laughed.

"Well at least I know it comes from your side of the family." He said half jokingly. Ginny's jaw dropped and she glared at Harry defensively.

"Excuse me?! I'm not the one who insisted on naming him Albus!"

"Hey, Albus Dumbledore was a great man!" Harry told her seriously. Ginny pointed at him triumphantly.

"Exactly!" she exclaimed. "He was a great man, a great wizard, the best headmaster Hogwarts ever had, and a grand old homosexual! If Al is on the same team as Dumbledore, he'll be fine." Harry sighed, finally admitting his defeat.

"I guess you're right," he said. "He's still _Al._ I just - I worry about him." Ginny smiled at Harry and began stroking his hair affectionately.

"I know you do," she said softly. Harry smiled at her and placed his hand on her knee. He was about to say something along the lines of "Oh Ginny, we are such wonderful parents. We should bang to celebrate what great parents we are," when the doorbell rang.

"Great. Malfoy's here," Ginny said gloomily. She left the couch and stood at the bottom of the stairway. "Scorpius!" she yelled. Scorpius came to the stairway and asked politely what she wanted. "Your father's here," she told him kindly. Scorpius' face lost the little amount of color it had.

"Shit," Harry and Scorpius said simultaneously. Harry made his way to the doorway and Scorpius came down the stairs, both dreading the reunion that was ahead. Ginny, being more brave than both of them, answered the door.

"Hello, Mr. Malfoy," Ginny greeted Malfoy politely. He raised his eyebrows at her in an arrogant manner, his thin lips twitching slightly as he nodded.

"Weasley," he greeted. "I guess it's Potter now." Ginny forced a smile.

"Come on in." Malfoy stepped into the Potters home, his hair and face as pale as Harry remembered. A short plump woman with rosy cheeks and golden blonde hair entered the room as well and held out her hand to Ginny.

"Hello, I don't believe we've met," she said cheerfully. "I'm Asteria, Scorpius's mother."

"Asteria – " Draco muttered to her, but before she could say anything else, Ginny smiled and shook her hand.

"Ginny. Ginny Potter. It's a pleasure to meet you," she said truthfully. Ginny personally found it a relief that one, Mrs. Malfoy was sweet and polite, and two, she didn't look like she could be Malfoy's sister.

"We are both so sorry for the burden our son has put on you," Malfoy told Harry, as if reciting a line from a play. Harry smiled at him awkwardly.

"Oh, it's no trouble at all. Scorpius was very polite," He told them, smiling at Scorpius, who was glaring at his father.

"Well that's new to me," Asteria giggled.

"Don't I know it," Ginny muttered. "My kids are savages around the house."

"Oh, yours too! Glad to know I'm not the only one," Asteria joked. Malfoy rolled his eyes.

"Asteria, please – " Malfoy muttered in a scolding manner.

"_Draco –" _Asteria whispered harshly.

"So!" Harry exclaimed before any fireworks could fly. "Er…" Harry took Scorpius by the shoulders and scooted him towards his parents. "Here you go. He's welcome any time!"

"No, he's not," Malfoy said coolly. "Come along, Scorpius," Malfoy said to his son, as if speaking to a dog who wanted to bark at another dog instead of taking a walk. Scorpius folded his arms and glared at his father.

"I'm not leaving," Scorpius told his father in an equally condescending tone. Harry felt a shiver go up his spine; it was like watching Malfoy argue with himself.

"Yes, Scorpius, you are."

"No, _Draco, _I'm not." Malfoy's cheeks turned slightly pink in anger.

"I have forbidden you to stay at the Potter's residence, and you will obey me," He demanded, slowly losing his cool exterior.

"Fine. I'll live on the streets of Knockturn Alley," Scorpius told his parents in a slightly threatening tone. Asteria snapped her fingers angrily at him, as if he were seven instead of seventeen.

"Scorpius, stop being so difficult," she scolded.

"Stop being awful parents!" Scorpius yelled, his cheeks also turning pink.

"That is enough! You will stop embarrassing us immediately," Malfoy demanded his son furiously.

"You're only embarrassing yourselves!" Scorpius told him dramatically.

"Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy! You will obey us immediately" Malfoy roared in anger. Harry snorted as he tried to suppress a laugh.

"What an awful name," he said to himself.

"It's funny, you keep saying that, and yet nothing changes," Scorpius said casually. Asteria stepped forward.

"Scorpy, _please_, we will work this out, but you need to come home. Please, darling," she pleaded softly. Malfoy glared at her in disgust.

"Do not _beg, _Asteria, you're his mother!" Malfoy demanded. Asteria glared at him furiously.

"Yes, and demanding is getting you so much farther!"

"Asteria –"

"Draco – "

"I hate you both!!"

"Er, anybody care for tea?" Ginny piped up politely. She had a feeling this was going to go on for a while, and if it was, there might as well be tea. Malfoy turned to her with a mad look in his eye and pointed at her threateningly.

"Stay out of this, _Weasley. _It's your offspring that got us into this situation," he growled. Scorpius suddenly dropped his attitude and looked at his father pleadingly.

"Dad, don't – "

"Hold on," Harry said. "How on earth is this my offspring's fault?" He demanded.

"It's not," Asteria said apologetically. Before she could continue, Malfoy interrupted her.

"It's your son's fault that my son is even in this mess! If your son hadn't _seduced _Scorpius, he would be the bloody poofter that he is today!" He exclaimed.

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked. Harry knew his son, and although his sexuality was questionable, Harry knew Al would never _seduce _anyone… At least not purposefully.

"Your sodomite son seduced Scorpius," Malfoy exclaimed.

"No, that's not it!" Scorpius told Harry desperately.

"I have the letter to prove it," Malfoy stated dramatically, handing Harry a letter written in blue ink, as if this proved everything. Scorpius felt his stomach plunge, and he had a sudden urge to hide under an invisibility cloak for the rest of his life. The fact of the matter was: Scorpius did not come out to his parents on his own free will. He wrote a letter to Al only days after winter break begun. This letter left little to the imagination, and while fans of steamy romance novels would find it very entertaining, Scorpius' father did not.

Everyone waited silently for Harry to finish reading the letter. Harry's face went from perplexed to embarrassed to slightly horrified. Scorpius' face was burning with humiliation; he never intended Al to read that letter. It was more of a cathartic letter that he planned on burning afterwards. He certainly did not intend for Harry Potter to read the letter. Harry adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat.

"Well," he said awkwardly, "It's not Al's fault that he inherited my, er, 'mesmerizing emerald eyes and succulent toned body.'" Harry turned to Scorpius. "Succulent?" He asked, as if asking if Scorpius _actually _used that word.

"Automatic thesaurus spell. Sorry," Scorpius mumbled, avoiding eye contact.

"Harry, enough," Ginny said impatiently. "Quit reading it."

"Sorry," Harry muttered as he folded up the letter and handed it to Ginny. He cleared his throat once again and turned to Malfoy. "Besides, I am almost _positive _that Al is straight!" Scorpius' ears perked up at this statement.

"Almost?" He asked innocently.

"Jesus Christ Scorpius," Malfoy muttered angrily at his son.

"However," Harry continued, "I'm 100% sure that _your _son is gay!!"

"My son is none of your concern Potter!!" Malfoy protested.

"Fine!" Harry said. "Then get him out of here!"

"Fine! Scorpius, you heard him, you are no longer welcome in this house," Malfoy spat at Scorpius, who simply shrugged in response.

"Fine then," Scorpius said casually. There was a loud crack, and before anybody could blink twice Scorpius was gone. Malfoy's face went from being slightly pink to bright red.

"Now look what you've done!!!" He yelled at Harry with an accusatory voice.

"What _I've _done?" Harry yelled back defensively. Suddenly, Al came running down the stairs.

"Did Scorpius just apparate?" He asked, scanning the foyer for his friend. Ginny placed a hand on Al's back and began guiding him out of the room.

"Al, right now isn't a good time," Ginny told him, wanting to be sure to get him as far away from Malfoy as possible.

"Great. This is just great. Now I have absolutely no _idea _where my son is!!" Malfoy ranted, waving his arms around dramatically as he did so. Asteria placed a hand on his arm.

"Draco, darling, calm down. There are several places where he might be. He absolutely loves shopping at Madame Renee's Extravagant Robes for Special Occasions," she told her husband, beaming as she did so. Al laughed at this remark, because even though he already _knew _Scorpius was gay, he still found it funny how effeminate he was. The Malfoy's heads snapped over to him and gave him a glare that could freeze hell, or at least Sub Saharan Africa. Al's smile faded quickly.

"Sorry. That's not funny," he said apologetically.

"We're leaving!" Malfoy exclaimed.

"Good riddance!" Harry retorted.

"It was a pleasure meeting you!" Asteria yelled before her husband could drag her out of the doorway. Harry slammed the door behind them and crossed his arms furiously.

"Why did he leave? What's going on!?" Al asked his parents. Harry ignored him and continued glaring at the door, as if trying to make it spontaneously combust with his mind. Ginny bit her lip.

"Al, I don't know. I don't even know where he went," she told him, clearly worried.

"I think I do," Al said. Both his parents looked at him, expecting him to say something more. All he said was, "Damn, I can't apparate," and ran out the door before his parents could stop him.

* * *

Well, there you go! Read and Review. Tell me what you think. First of all, I want to apologize to everybody who hates Percy and doesn't like him slashed. I love Percy, and I love slashing him. I usually hate it when I read fanfics that are supposed to be one ship and yet the author has another noncanon ship in the fanfic that I hate. I didn't want this to turn into a fanfic where I just listed all my favorite ships ever. Still, I felt it fit with the story. I'm also sorry to everybody who loves slashing Percy. I wanted to keep this as canon as possible with the characters, which means Percy has a wife and two kids. It says so in the family tree J.K Rowling created. You guys probably already know about this, but you can find the family tree at her website under the eraser thing.

I also had a great deal of fun with Asteria. I figured that since Scorpius was so bubbly all the time, there's no way that his mom could be as evil as Draco. So I gave Draco an extremely bubbly Kristin Chenoweth-esque wife.

Thanks for reading! R&R!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the unannounced 1 year hiatus. There's only one more chapter left, and I am determined to finish this fanfic! I hope you enjoy the chapter. R&R!

* * *

"If you went to your house to find that your entire family had been brutally murdered and that Bolsheviks wanted to kill you too, what would you do?" Scorpius asked Al one night in the room of requirement. Before things became complicated, Al and Scorpius had a seemingly insignificant conversation that would later assist Al in finding Scorpius after he apparated. The two were lounging in the room of requirement after a Quidditch match that the Gryffindor's had lost. Al had been ranting and raving about how James was the worst Gryffindor seeker in history, and Scorpius needed to change the subject somehow.

"What?" Al said, looking at Scorpius as if he was insane.

"I've been reading a bit about 20th century muggle history, and I've just been wondering about what I would do if that ever happened to me," Scorpius responded a little defensively.

"Why?" Al asked blankly.

"Oh I don't know Al," Scorpius snapped, "Don't tell me you've never pondered that, what with your father being the famous Harry Potter."

"My father isn't the Tsar of Russia, Scorp!"

"So you never thought any death eaters would try to kill your family?" Scorpius asked him disbelievingly. Al shrugged.

"They already do try. It's basically my dad's job to make people want to kill him," Al told Scorpius.

"Good point," Scorpius mumbled.

"Do you ever worry about that?" Al asked Scorpius. He didn't really expect Scorpius to give him much of an answer, because he didn't think it was common for most families to have to deal with death eaters anymore. When he saw the embarrassed look on Scorpius' face, however, he knew he was wrong.

"Sometimes, actually," Scorpius admitted. "My – my family _did _betray Voldemort. I don't know, sometimes I worry that a crazed death eater will escape from Azkeban and try to murder us in our sleep, because god knows we're not Aurors."

"Oh," Albus responded uncomfortably. There was an awkward silence. Neither one of them were sure if the conversation had become too personal or not.

"You can always come to my house, if that ever happens to you," Al told him sincerely. Scorpius glanced at him, a little surprised to hear those words coming out of Al's mouth.

"Really?" He asked. He couldn't help but to admit he was touched by Al's offer.

"Of course!" Al told him reassuringly.

"But what if I want to keep up our rivalry at school? I can't go to your house," Scorpius said quickly, wanting to make sure that the conversation didn't get _too _heartfelt.

"Well, you could always try the Leaky Cauldron," Al suggested. "When James and Fred ran away, they hid out in the basement and did nothing but play exploding snap and drink butterbeer."

"Doesn't _Frank Longbottom _work there?" Scorpius sneered.

"I'm not sure," Al told him, even though he was well aware Frank worked at the Leaky Cauldron during the holidays. "What's wrong with Frank Longbottom?" He asked casually. Scorpius shrugged.

"Nothing. If you like arrogant pretty boys," Scorpius muttered with a hint of jealousy. Al raised an eyebrow at his friend.

"I'm not sure you're one to judge, Scorp," He told him with a smile. Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"I'm not saying I'm _not _an arrogant pretty boy, I just don't like _other _arrogant pretty boys!" He clarified. "The point is I have too much dignity to hide in the basement of the Leaky Cauldron."

* * *

"I need to hide in your basement!!" Scorpius demanded rudely. Frank Longbottom looked at Scorpius and yawned.

"Why?" He asked. Scorpius the took a handful of galleons out of his pocket and dumped them in front of Frank, who suddenly looked wide awake.

"That's why," Scorpius told him cooly. Frank was _going _to suggest a room instead, but the money Scorpius gave him was much more than the cost of a room.

"Right this way," he said as he led Scorpius to the basement.

As the day slowly ended, the Scorpius Malfoy search party went from diligent to non existent. Naturally, his parents were worried sick about their son, but they knew after that revealing and embarrassing incident at the Potter's, all of them needed some space. Besides, if their son didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be. Eventually only Al was left searching for his stubborn friend. His plan was to arrive at the Leaky Cauldron immediately, but the Night Bus had a new "no runaway teens" policy, and Al was forced to use another means of transportation.

While Al was transferring from muggle bus stop to muggle bus stop, Scorpius was sitting at the lonely bar of the Leaky Cauldron, drowning his humiliation in firewhiskey. Only Frank Longbottom was there to accompany him, serving him drink after drink and thanking god for sending him someone who was so loose with their money.

"You know Frank," Scorpius grumbled, his cheeks red and his eyes distant, "I'd probably fuck you."

"Thanks, that's so sweet," Frank replied sarcastically. Frank himself wasn't much of a Scorpius Malfoy fan; there had been some uncomfortable history between him and a friend of Frank's. That, on top of the long hours he was pulling, was enough to bring out a little sarcasm. Scorpius didn't pay much attention to it and continued on.

"Yeah, if you were gay, I'd _totally_ fuck you. Even though, you're not really my type," he added as an after thought, his mind drifting to Al. Scorpius banged his fist on the table in frustration, and yelled "I want another alcoholic beverage!!"

Frank eyed him with a concerned expression. "I dunno mate, don't you think you've had enough?" He asked him.

"Don't start with me, Longbottom! I want more alcohol! I'm business!" He exclaimed, placing more money in front of Frank. Scorpius certainly was convincing. Frank poured him another shot without complaint.

"Thanks, old sport," Scorpius mumbled before choking down more firewhiskey. He held a pained facial expression for about two seconds and let out a gasp of relief.

"But, but really, Frank," he said, "listen, listen to me Longbottom, Frank, can I call you Frank? I'm calling you Frank. Listen, Frank, have you..." Scorpius paused. For a split second, Frank almost though he saw some human emotion in Scorpius's eyes.

"Have you ever felt this, this thing for a bloke where you look at him, and your stomach gets all happy and giddy and you don't want to have sex with him, but you do, but you want to have sex with him in the way you want to be under the stars or in a tree or I don't know what's romantic but its..." Scorpius paused again. He turned his gaze to the window. Frank was positive he recognized a strange mix of human emotions coming from Scorpius. He could tell Scorpius was embarrassed, hurt, and more confused than he ever had been in his entire life.

"It's almost like, like you want to be _with_ him more than you want to have sex with him, and – I don't know, have you ever felt that, mate?" He asked, turning his gaze from the window to Frank. In all honesty, Frank knew exactly what Scorpius was talking about, but he wasn't going to admit it to some drunken Slytherin.

"Can't say I have. At least not for a bloke."

"It's so fuckin' terrifying. Can I tell you something? I'm mildly – I'm what you'd call a man whore, I think. I've gone down on quite a bit of blokes, and I'm not proud of that, but it's very true. But it's just – okay, when I see a bloke, and I think he's attractive, I think about sex, because I'm male, and that's what males do," Scorpius told him, sounding more like a librarian than a drunken teenage boy. "You do that, I bet! You know, only with breasts. You like breast. Breasts. Plural," Scorpius said sloppily, gesturing crudely to a pair of large invisible breasts.

"Er…"

"But then, okay, then I see Al, right? And I feel like I should say that every inch of him is perfect and beautiful and irresistible and he's like a flower in a field of lollipops and chocolate and I don't know what the fuckin' what nots – but he's not. He has these – he has flaws that _should _make him unattractive! I mean, he's so awkward and he doesn't sit up straight and he bites his nails when he's studying and it's – come on, that's repulsive! Right, am I right?"

"Well -"

"Exactly! He also can't dance. And you know, he's not attractive," Scorpius informed him, acting as if the thought was absurd. His face then softened a little, as if he was considering the possibility of Al's sexual appeal. "I mean, okay, he – no, no he's not! I've never looked at him and thought 'Damn, what an attractive bloke he is, look at the sexy way he bites his fingernails!'" He protested angrily.

And then that look returned. All the pain and confusion and heartbreak Frank noticed before came clearly into view and Frank couldn't help but to feel for the guy. Scorpius continued, "but do you know how many times I've just stopped in my tracks and looked at him - and I mean, really looked at him - and thought 'Oh my god. He's breathtaking,'" he said distantly. Scorpius shook his head. " I wish I could look at him and think 'attractive,' because 'breathtaking' means I'm in love with him."

Watching Scorpius' lonely eyes staring helplessly at his shotglass was like standing in front of a dementor; Frank could feel his confidence and happiness being sucked out of him. He understood completely what Scorpius was talking about, but he was never able to put it into words. Being physically attracted to someone was easy for both of them, but to be in love with someone – to have that risk of rejection and loneliness and heartache – that was terrifying. At that moment, he felt connected to the Slytherin. "You know," he said told him, "that's very sweet."

Scorpius snorted into his shotglass. "Sweet? It's _sweet? _Oh god, Frank, can you get any gayer?!"

The connection didn't last long.

"No, but really, I don't know how anybody can't look at Al and just, I don't know, just fall in love with him. I don't know how I didn't fall in love with him when I first saw him!!" Scorpius exclaimed. Frank thought about when he first met the two of them.

"Weren't you eleven when you – "

"He's so incredible. I love his beautiful raven hair and, and how thick his eyebrows are. Oh god, and when he has a five o clock shadow, I just can't help myself. I'm a _big _fan of facial hair, Frank." Frank rubbed his chin, wondering if the facial hair attraction was strictly a gay thing (or strictly a Scorpius thing), or if brainy Gryffindor ladies felt the same way.

"Especially on Al," Scorpius continued. "It's just that _perfect _combination of ruggedness and shy modesty that drives me insane! And, alright, you really can't tell, but Al is _fit. _I mean, he is, he's incredibly ripped!" The conversation was getting very uncomfortable very fast.

"But you know what just seals the deal for me? Those eyes. Good god, I nearly die whenever I look into them. He has these breathtaking emerald eyes, and I mean, I mean they are _emerald! _He – I dunno, Frank! He's so strong, and he's so gentle at the same time. Like, like he could beat me up and then lick my wounds later," Scorpius sighed. "Wow. That brings images. God, I've _never _wanted to have sex with anyone as bad as I want to have sex with Al."

"Ah," Frank responded uncomfortably. He stared at Scorpius for a while, who suddenly looked like he was about to vomit.

"why am I – I can't believe I'm saying this. I deserve to die, Al's so – god, I'm such a sexually deviant pervert. Al's so much better than that! Just kill me," Scorpius demanded; his shame and self loathing was becoming unbearable.

"What?!"

"Kill me. Quickly now, Al will probably come to rescue me any second. Wouldn't want that," Scorpius told a stunned Frank.

"I – uh… I can't do that, Malfoy."

"Oh grow some balls, Frank. Honestly!" Scorpius told him irritably. Frank was painfully uncomfortable with Scorpius's suicidal demands, and was on the verge of panicking, when the entrance doors of the leaky cauldron flew open dramatically. Albus Potter entered, completely out of breath and looking as if he had seen better days.

"Scorpius!" Al exclaimed as he rushed to his friend.

"Al!" Scorpius stumbled out of his stool and embraced Al.

"What happened?" Al asked him as Scorpius burried his face into Al's shoulder. "Why are you here? Are you crying?"

"Someone kill me. I hate my life!" Scorpius moaned. Frank was getting really nervous now. Scorpius's wand was in his pocket, and he was afraid he was about to do something awful.

"Scorp, quit being such a girl," Al told him.

"Okay," he mumbled. And just like that, Frank's concerns were taken care of. "Hey Al?" Scorpius said, breaking their embrace.

"What?"

"Lets run away, Al," he said, his eyes sparkling. "Let's get a little cottage in the middle of nowhere or, or a beach house and we can have a lot of cats and make love in the ocean with the mermaids –"

"Scorpius, are you drunk?"

"So drunk. You have no idea."

"Well, should you lie down, or –"

"No!" Scorpius told him firmly, staring deeply into his eyes."No, I should make love to you. Right here, in front of everyone. Well, in front of Frank, I guess…"

"Er, Scorp, are you -"

"I love you."

Al stopped breathing.

"What?"

"I love you," Scorpius whispered to him, gently placing his arms around Al's waist. Al was so dangerously close to Scorpius at this point that he had trouble thinking clearly. "I love you so much. Oh my god, Al, every time I see you - my heart melts. and I feel like a little school girl, except, except I start thinking about doing things to you that a little school girl couldn't even _imagine." _Scorpius' husky voice tickling Al's ear was enough to make Al do a little imagining of his own.

"Should I leave?" Frank asked uncomfortably, bringing Al back to reality. Al glanced over at Frank, who was really not enjoying the show. Al tried to bring a little more space in between him and Scorpius, which proved a little difficult.

"Er, get us a room, I guess?" He told Frank, his cheeks flushed.

"What? Al, don't leave me!" Scorpius begged him, his voice filled with panic.

"I'm not - " Al was cut off by Scorpius pressing his lips firmly against Al's. The first thought that entered his head was 'Oh god, what's going on?' His thoughts were quickly shortened to 'Oh, _god!' _as Scorpius deepened the kiss and held him tightly.

"So here's your key," Frank said, his cheeks burning.

"Thanks," Al said, an apologetic look in his eye. "Oh, how much is the –"

"Just pay me later."

"Right."

* * *

It was 3:00 in the morning, and Al was exhausted. The room was mostly in shadow, but the blue midnight light was streaming through the windows, making the atmosphere much more romantic than Al was comfortable with. Out of nowhere, Al felt someone wrap their arms around him. Only then did he realize that they were alone. He was alone with Scorpius. In a bedroom. Al was terrified.

Al laughed nervously and broke away from Scorpius's embrace. "Scorp, let's call it a night," Al told Scorpius as he leaned in closer to Al. "Let's just..." Al was desperately trying to finish his sentence, but Scorpius began nuzzling his neck affectionately. Just for a second, Al closed his eyes and let Scorpius continue to gently press his soft lips against his neck. Any common sense Al had vanished, and nothing else mattered at that moment. He _needed _Scorpius. He knew that Scorpius was only doing this because he was drunk, and he knew that tomorrow was going to be awkward and humiliating. But Al was done with thinking about consequences. Scorpius reached underneath Al's shirt and began exploring, forcing a moan out of Al that he never thought he'd make. Any heartbreak in the morning would be worth it.

He could feel his heart pounding as he tangled his fingers in Scorpius's soft white blonde hair and kissed him slowly. Scorpius let out a gentle moan as the kiss became more and more passionate. He wasn't sure when his shirt came off or how he ended up being pressed against a wall, but Al didn't mind. They continued to kiss frantically, and Al's shaky fingers began unbuttoning Scorpius's shirt as heat built up in his groin. The arousal was almost unbearable. Al tried to maneuver himself in an attempt to hide the unmistakable bulge in his pants, but Scorpius's shamelessly slid his hands downward. Al gasped at the contact and threw his head back, allowing Scorpius to begin biting and licking his neck.

"Oh god, Al," Scorpius groaned into his ear as he continued to explore. He could tell that Scorpius wanted this as badly as he did. Al was so lost in their heated passion that he almost didn't hear Scorpius say "Wait."

Scorpius stopped touching Al and stepped away from him, muttering "Wait. Wait, no." Al opened his eyes, and stared hazily at Scorpius.

"Huh?" Was all he could say.

"We can't do this," Scorpius whimpered. He looked panicked, and almost embarrassed. There was an uncomfortable silence that followed.

"Whuh?" Al muttered dumbly, still in shock by the whole situation. Scorpius gave Al an apologetic look.

"This is so wrong," he said. "You – you're so…" Scorpius trailed off.

"Hard?" Al finished for him.

"Beautiful. I – I can't – you're a good person, Al. You're just – you're amazing," Scorpius whispered. An unmistakable look of shame was in Scorpius's eyes, and suddenly Al realized how exposed he was.

"Hey," Al said, "um, why don't you try to get some rest? I'll take the couch, okay?" Scorpius didn't respond. He just stared at Al with adoration, and in that simple moment, Al realized just how in love with Scorpius he really was. Scorpius took a step closer to Al and began stroking his cheek affectionately.

"I just - Oh god, I love you so much," Scorpius whispered. Al was so taken aback by this statement that he just stared at the other boy, his mouth half open. Yes, he heard it the first time, but he just didn't believe it. He wasn't sure what made him believe it now; maybe it was the lighting, or the fact that they were so close he could see specks of blue in the other boy's steel grey eyes. God Al loved those eyes. He loved his pale moonlit skin, the little red scar underneath his right eye, the way he smiled when he was embarrassed; he loved every inch of him. For so long, he had silently worshiped the earth his friend walked on, and it always made him feel so pathetic. He was done with being pathetic, and he was done being silent.

"Fuck Scorpius, I love you too," Al exclaimed, perhaps a bit too loudly. He grabbed the other boy and kissed him roughly while Scorpius wrapped his arms firmly around his waist. Al moaned into the kiss as Scorpius let his hands roam all over Al's body. Al lowered his own shaky hands to Scorpius's belt buckle, and began fiddling with it nervously. He had never wanted anything so badly in his life. He finally yanked off the belt and began unzipping the other boy's pants. He could feel desire pouring out of every inch of him as he slowly traced the hem of Scorpius's boxers.

Before Al could go any further, Scorpius grabbed Al's hands and pushed them away. "Don't do that," Scorpius scolded him, shaking his head and avoiding eye contact. Al panicked.

"What?" He choked, feeling a sudden wave of embarrassment and shame. A million thoughts filled his head. He'd done something wrong; Scorpius was drunk; he's taking advantage; he shouldn't have let himself get carried away; he shouldn't have even thought of Scorpius like that in the first place.

"Don't start becoming – don't trick me," Scorpius muttered. "This is – you're such an asshole." Now Al had no idea what he was talking about.

"What?" Al's cheeks began to burn. This was all so new to him, and he was terrified. He had no idea what he had done wrong.

"Quit fucking with me," Scorpius demanded. "You don't – that's not – that's so inconsiderate!"

"What are you talking about?" Al was practically begging for an answer.

"I'm talking about – you were there in the library – and I..." Scorpius trailed off, looking absolutely disgusted. That look in Scorpius's eye made Al feel so ashamed of himself that he was on the verge of crying.

"I need to vomit. Oh god," Scorpius mumbled, now staring at the floor. At first Al thought he meant he was going to vomit because of Al's shameful lust, but he then realized that Scorpius's disgusted facial expression was because he was actually about to vomit. It was like watching a deer in headlights about to be run down by an automobile. Al knew it was going to happen, but he was powerless to prevent it.

"Oh bloody hell," Al muttered after the cookies were tossed. _Well, _he thought to himself, _that's one way to kill a boner._ Al quickly got out his wand and cleaned up the mess, while Scorpius rushed to the bathroom to continue what he had started. He and Al spent the next fifteen minutes in the bathroom; Scorpius leaning over the toilet and Al holding back his hair.

"Scorp? Take a shower and get some rest. Please," Al told him after he was done. Without waiting for an answer, Al conjured up a blanket and a pillow and made his way to the couch. Scorpius didn't even look at Al. He couldn't. He just sat there on the bathroom floor, feeling miserable and dreading the next morning.

* * *

A/N: Don't forget to review! Criticism is welcome, but flames are not.


	5. Chapter 5

Scorpius Malfoy gave a different answer every time someone asked him who his first crush was. Sometimes he would say his first crush was Marlon Brando, sometimes he would say it was James Dean, and once in a while he'd say it was Nearly Headless Nick just to get a reaction. He would never tell the truth, because even Nearly Headless Nick would have been better than Eric Nott. Eric Nott was the son of one of Draco Malfoy's coworkers, and Scorpius met him about a year before Hogwarts. During business meetings at the Malfoy Manor, Eric would convince Scorpius to snoop around rooms and secret passageways that they both knew were off limits. Even as a kid, Eric was always very charming and charismatic. He was daring, spontaneous, and a natural born leader. Scorpius practically worshipped Eric, and Eric loved it.

Their friendship continued on to Hogwarts, but Scorpius never fit in with the Slytherin boys the way Eric did. Whenever Eric spent time with Scorpius, it seemed like a chore, or like charity. Eric would often say mean things to Scorpius in front of his peers, but he would always apologize in private and reassure Scorpius that he didn't mean what he said. As their friendship gradually deteriorated, Scorpius slowly realized that his feelings for Eric were probably stronger than they should have been.

By their fifth year, their friendship was basically non-existent. When Scorpius finally thought he could forget about Eric, Eric had drunkenly kissed him in the Astronomy tower. The next night, Eric assured him that it was an accident. The two developed a habit of accidently kissing, and this grew into accidently groping, which eventually turned into accidently hooking up on a regular basis. So Scorpius went back to adoring Eric, and Eric went back to adoring the fact that Scorpius adored him and took advantage of it. He would say cruel things to Scorpius in front of his peers, and he would never even acknowledge he had said those things when they were together. Eric never physically hurt Scorpius, but others tried to, and when they did Eric would just watch. Scorpius could take care of himself whenever a few bullies said cruel things or tried to physically hurt him, because he was very good at insulting people and very good at hexes as well. But whenever it was Eric, Scorpius just stared at him, feeling hurt and alone.

Scorpius tried to ignore Eric, and he tried to end things. He even went on a few dates with a 6th year Ravenclaw, but Eric always had a way of pulling Scorpius back in. Every time he did, he would subtly remind Scorpius that he was the leader, and Scorpius was the sidekick. That's the way it had always been. When Scorpius finally confronted him in front of his peers, it didn't sit well with Eric. Scorpius called him a coward, an asshole, a neo-death eater, and best of all, a closet case. A wizard duel ensued, rumors went flying, and their "relationship" was replaced by rivalry.

Scorpius went on to dating other boys, and Eric went on to dating various Slytherin girls to kill the rumors. The two never acknowledged each other in public, but when they were alone together Eric never failed to say something cruel to Scorpius. What Scorpius hated most about Eric was that he always knew just what to say to ruin Scorpius's day. The conversation the two had the week before Christmas break was particularly unnerving.

"I couldn't help but notice you've been hanging around James Potter's brother," Eric casually said to him as he entered the Slytherin common room. The common room was empty except for the two of them; everyone else was at the last Hogsmede trip.

"I couldn't help but to notice you're constantly overcompensating for your tiny gay penis," Scorpius replied with a drawl in his voice, not taking his eyes from his book. Eric chuckled and took a spot next to Scorpius on the green couch, sitting a little too close to him.

"Do you want to know the main difference between you and me, Scorpius?" Eric asked. Scorpius shrugged.

"I'm not Voldemort reincarnated?"

"I take that as a compliment, but no. The main difference is that I'm masculine enough to hide my sexuality. If you weren't as flaming as a blast ended skewt, you'd do the exact same thing," Eric said to him. Scorpius shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"No, I wouldn't. I'm not like you; I'm not ashamed of who I am."

"Aren't you? I'm sure you've gotten used to being the biggest queen at Hogwarts by now, but you have a hard time accepting your Slytherin ways," Eric said, smirking at Scorpius. Scorpius finally looked up from his book and glared at Eric.

"What are you talking about?"

"I know you think I'm cruel and manipulative and selfish, but those are the traits of a Slytherin. You're just as manipulative and selfish as I am; you just try to hide it," Eric told him.

"That's not true."

"Of course it is. I know what your relationships with other boys are like, and I know how they end. You get bored, and they get their hearts broken," Eric said. Scorpius tried to pretend his words didn't affect him, even though he knew he was right.

"I recommend you don't try anything with the Potter boy," Eric said to him, "he's too nice for you. You'd just end up breaking him." Scorpius' cheeks turned pink.

"I wasn't going to try anything. I can be friends with a boy without being interested in him," Scorpius said. Eric raised an eyebrow at him.

"We both know that's a lie, Scorpius," Eric murmured as he softly placed his hand on Scorpius's thigh. Scorpius stood up immediately and grabbed his wand, pointing it threateningly at Eric. He just laughed and left the common room, leaving Scorpius more miserable than he had felt in a long time.

* * *

The morning after his eventful night with Al, Scorpius Malfoy awoke to a throbbing headache and a guilty conscience. He groaned and rubbed his eyes, his head spinning and his stomach turning. Memories of last night his mind, and Scorpius was mortified. How could he let himself do that to Al? How could could he lose control like that? How is it he had gotten so drunk and yet he could still remember the horror of last night? Al probably hated him. Anyone would hate a guy who drunkenly made out with them and then vomit on their shoes. And yet, if Scorpius wasn't mistaken, Al had kissed him back. He had told Scorpius he loved him, and he did this without the influence of alcohol. The boy Scorpius had been pining over for the past few months felt the same way. He should have been happy, but he felt as if he was going to have a panic attack.

"Oh. You're up," said Al. He was sitting on the couch with a book in his lap, looking absolutely exhausted. Scorpius' heart skipped a beat when Al spoke.

"Unfortunately," muttered Scorpius. He had fallen asleep in yesterday's clothes, which made him feel unclean and uncomfortable.

"I brought you some breakfast," Al said. Scorpius saw a muffin and a cup of punpkin juice sitting on the coffee table.

"Oh, so you did," Scorpius replied, his heart sinking. Only Al would think to think to bring Scorpius breakfast in the morning. There were a lot of things that only Al would do. Only Al would make Scorpius run away from home. Only Al could make Scorpius feel miserable and ecstatic within the same minute. Only Al could make him feel this nervous. "Hey, Al," Scorpius started, feeling uncomfortable and embarrassed. Al looked at him with those big green eyes, and for a brief moment Scorpius forgot what he was going to say. It was hard thinking of anything else when Al was looking at him like that.

"Yes?" Al said, bringing Scorpius back to reality.

"Er, what happened last night?"Scorpius said quickly. Al stared at him, trying to hide his surprise.

"You don't remember?" Al asked with an undeniable look of disappointment in his eyes. Scorpius _did _remember, but if he could convince Al he had no memory of last night's events, he could avoid any awkward confrontations that might follow.

"Not really," he lied. "I remember getting in that embarrassing fight with my parents in front of your parents, and I remember apparating to the Leaky Cauldron, and I remember talking to Frank… and that's about it, actually." Scorpius saw Al blush and look away from him.

"Oh, okay," he said quietly. The two sat in silence for a moment, and Scorpius tried to ignore how guilty he felt. He was putting Al in a really awful position, and he knew that. He also knew if he admitted his feelings for Al, something would eventually go horribly wrong, and their friendship would be over. Maybe this way they could act as if nothing had happened and return to the way things were before.

"Why? What did I do?" Scorpius asked him tentatively. Al's blush deepened, and he still refused to look at Scorpius. He could tell Al wasn't going to admit anything.

"I kissed you, didn't I?" Scorpius said quickly. That may have been the understatement of the year, but it was still true, and he really didn't want Al to spell it out for him. "I'm really sorry, Al."

"It's okay," Al muttered, still avoiding his gaze.

"When I get really drunk, I tend to do things like that," Scorpius told him. Again, this was true. Scorpius was determined to avoid lying to Al any more than he had to. "I am so sorry."

"Scorp, you didn't just kiss me," Al told him firmly. He continued to avoid Scorpius's gaze. Scorpius thought back to last night, and he realized that he wasn't quite sure what Al was referring to. They didn't do anything other than kiss, did they? Maybe hands went places they shouldn't, surely they didn't... Scorpius became very concerned that maybe he _hadn't _remembered everything that had happened last night.

"Did I vomit on you?" He asked nervously.

"You told me you loved me," Al said in an expressionless tone. Scorpius was so relieved to hear this that he laughed.

"Oh, right! Er, don't worry about that!" He said quickly. "I say that to everybody when I'm drunk!" Again, this was true. Al didn't look at him, but it was clear he was upset.

"Oh. Great," he muttered.

* * *

Al dragged his feet down the hallway, passing the other rooms and heading towards the stairs. The sunlight streaming through the windows seemed to mock his mood. He felt numb; partly because he didn't sleep at all last night and mostly because he was heartbroken. How could he have been so gullible? How could he ever think he had a chance with Scorpius? How could he ever let himself believe that maybe, _finally _he'd found someone. He made his way down the stairs and walked toward Frank, who was arranging the tables and chairs for the morning. Al had the sudden urge to punch Frank in the face. He just reminded Al of the crushing self conscious feelings he dealt with when he was younger, and he reminded Al that what happened with Scorpius was so much worse.

"Here's your money," Al grumbled as he dug out a few galleons and dropped them onto the table Frank was cleaning.

"Thanks," Frank replied, looking at little uncomfortable. "So Al, I was wondering – "

"Nothing happened," Al cut in quickly. Frank looked at him blankly.

"What?"

"Nothing happened between me and Scorpius. He was just drunk. You don't have to worry about us gaying up the Leaky Cauldron atmosphere, because I'm not gay," Al muttered bitterly. Frank stared at him.

"Oh. Er, okay. I was actually going to ask about Rose," he said.

"I'm not gay," Al told him firmly. He didn't care that he was lying through his teeth. If he wasn't going to be with Scorpius, there was no point in letting anyone from Hogwarts know he was gay.

"I got that," Frank told him.

"And even if I was," Al continued, "Scorpius Malfoy is a self centered lying dick. And I don't like dicks. Especially since I'm not gay."

"Okay, I get it," Frank said. Al glared at the coins he had dropped onto the table, his mind miles away. He kept thinking of last night, and how Scorpius had so easily made Al lose control of his emotions. He had never felt anything like that before. He buried his face in his hands and groaned.

"Fuck, I'm so gay. What am I going to do?" He groaned. Frank stared at him blankly.

"I – I don't know. I'm not sure I'm the best person to talk to about this situation."

"But wasn't Scorpius talking to you about _his _gay problems?" Al muttered. Frank looked somewhat offended.

"Well yes, but I'm not sure why I'm suddenly the bloke to talk to about gay problems," Frank said. Al stared at him.

"Aren't you in Hufflepuff?" A long silence followed this question.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Frank asked. Al shrugged.

"Hufflepuff's are – loyal and shit?" He said, "I don't know. I'll see you at school."

* * *

Both Scorpius and Al knew that things weren't really going to be the same after that. For one, Scorpius's relationship with his parents was going to be strained, but at least there were no more secrets. They more or less accepted him, and both he and his parents made an unspoken agreement not to apologize for anything. Now all Scorpius just had to worry about the secret he was keeping from Al. After Scorpius was reunited with his parents, Al went home to a very concerned household, and was grounded for the rest of the break. He didn't really care, because he had no desire to leave his house. He spent the rest of the break reading in his room and being moody. Harry and Ginny were concerned about their sons behavior, but whenever they asked if there was anything he wanted to talk about, he would joke and say that he wanted to talk about not being grounded. This reassured Harry and Ginny that their son was fine, and it made it easier for Al to mope in secret. If there was one thing Al learned from his years hiding in the closet, it was how to hide his emotions.

Al and Scorpius's friendship more or less returned to normal after the break, but they spent less time together. They would complain about their busy schedules and make half hearted promises to make time for each other, but Al had a feeling that Scorpius was purposefully avoiding him, and Scorpius suspected the same thing about Al. They were hardly ever even in the same room until they were assigned a History of Magic project near the end of the school year. They were separated into groups of four; one Gryffindor, one Ravenclaw, one Slytherin and one Hufflepuff. Al was in a group with Scorpius and Frank, much to his embarrassment. The fourth group member was a Ravenclaw named Linda, a short brunette with a face like a chipmunk. According to Scorpius, she was a horrible human being, but Al didn't really know how much he trusted Scorpius's judgement anymore.

After History of Magic. Al finally had a break to read in the Library. He sat on his favorite couch next to his favorite window, and began reading about a man who was eaten alive by a minotaur. Al was finally able to relax, despite the contents of his book. His sixth year was almost at an end, and even though things were never really resolved between him and Scorpius, Al was beginning to accept what had happened. Things weren't perfect, but they weren't horrible either. As Al relaxed and read on about how the minotaur liked his humans medium rare, he was interrupted by Linda and Scorpius' bickering. He groaned when he heard them, and hoped that maybe they would go away without him having to get off the couch and tell them to be quiet.

"Al? Tell Scorpius he _has _to be paired with you for the research!" Al jumped when he noticed Linda was standing right in front of him, looming over him like an overgrown rabid squirrel. He noticed that Scorpius was walking towards hims as well, looking smug and arrogant, like he always did. Then again, Al's opinion of what Scorpius always did could've been biased.

"Never mind her, Al. She just wants to be paired with Frank because the only time he'll _probably _ever give her any attention is if she's nagging him while researching." Linda's face turned bright pink, either from embarrassment or anger.

"What are you talking about?"

"It's obvious you _fancy _him! You probably rearranged the seating chart just so you could be in the same research group as him!"

"I did no such thing!" Linda said. Al sighed and placed the book he was reading in front of his face, hoping that maybe if he couldn't see them, they would disappear.

"You do know he's obsessed with Rose Weasley, don't you?" Scorpius said.

"Oh please. What could he _possibly _see in Rose Weasley?" Scorpius smirked.

"Touched a nerve there, didn't I?"

"Scorp, please?" Al snapped, finally setting the book down. "Could you two bicker somewhere else?"

"I just want to make sure that Scorpius works with you on the project," Linda said. They had agreed that they would do research in pairs of two and meet up later to organize the presentation.

"Alright. I'm fine with that," Al muttered, returning to his book.

"I'm not," Scorpius retorted, folding his arms and glaring at Linda like five year old in time out. Al felt a little hurt when he said this.

"Why not?"

"The only time we ever get to see each other is Saturday night and lunch period, and _I _am busy Saturday night. I just think it would be easier if I was paired with Frank so we could actually communicate about our research as opposed to the little communication that you and I have." Al couldn't help feeling like this was similar to all the excuses they had used throughout the semester, but Scorpius was right. It would be better to be paired with someone whose schedule matched his.

"Alright, that makes sense," Al said, returning to his book and deciding that being eaten by a Minotaur would be an awful way to go.

"Please, the only reason you want to work with Frank is so you can have sex with Anthony Edmunds Saturday night!"

And suddenly, being eaten by a Minotaur didn't seem so bad.

"On the other hand, I really think you and I should work together," Al said quickly and nervously, trying to suppress the pain that was building up in his chest.

"Why?"

"We make a wonderful pair. You know, when it comes to research," Al stammered. He reassured himself that this wasn't happening, that Scorpius hadn't already moved on with someone else. Linda was just making things up. Any time now, Scorpius was going to say that he wasn't with Anthony Edmunds. Better yet, he'd say he didn't even know an Anthony Edmunds! But Scorpius just stared at Al like he was crazy.

"Are you joking, Al? Last time we tried researching together we played exploding snap for two hours!" Al didn't bother trying to argue with Scorpius, because he was too distracted by his own misery. Had this been why Scorpius was so busy? Had he been ignoring Al so he could be with other guys?

"Look, you two can research separately and then arrange the presentation Saturday. Then we can all meet up Sunday to bring it all together. It's not that difficult," Linda said, looking beyond irritated by the conversation they were having.

"Great idea!" Al said. Scorpius glared at him.

"You know what Al, you can arrange the presentation yourself, because I'm not giving up another Saturday night."

"Scorpius! That's not fair!"

"I'll give you the notes and everything! You don't even need me!" Scorpius said dismissively. "That's not true! You have no idea how much I need you," Al said, perhaps a little too desperately. Al was mortified that he had allowed himself to say this, but Scorpius didn't take too much notice of it.

"Really Al, it's time consuming, but it's not _hard_. You just read off the notes to the classroom and pretend it's a presentation. Professor Binns can't tell the difference." Linda was fuming.

"When I write my reflective essay about our teamwork, I will not only tell Professor Binns that you are unreliable, but that you are a lustful gay slacker as well!" She spat at Scorpius.

"Oh _please, _Lisa!" he wailed, "Not Professor Binns! _Anyone _but Professor Binns!" the two continued their argument, and seeing as they weren't moving, Al decided his time of relaxation was over. He left the library without saying another word to either of them.

* * *

Al couldn't sleep that night. He tried so hard to forget about Scorpius, but it wasn't working. The more he focussed on trying to sleep, the more Scorpius entered his mind. As he tossed and turned in his bed, he asked himself a million questions. How could he have been so stupid? How could Scorpius do this to him? How could he have let himself get so attached to a guy like him?

Al dragged himself out of bed and walked around Hogwarts, not even bothering to take his invisibility cloak. It didn't matter to him if he got caught out of bed. He didn't care about losing points, he didn't care about the house cup, and he didn't care if he got detention. He barely even cared about Quidditch anymore; he just wanted to leave Hogwarts. He remembered his dad telling him that his years at Hogwarts were some of the happiest years of his life. Al suspected his dad was a bit of a masochist. For Al, Hogwarts meant never really fitting in, and never being quite good enough.

Al walked towards the library when he noticed the girl's bathroom. It was the same bathroom where Al found Scorpius at the beginning of the year. Without really thinking, he walked in and sat down on the cool, tile floor . It was smaller than he remembered, and it was less comforting somehow. Maybe he just felt that way because someone moved the couch out of the bathroom. It was most likely because Al's feelings for Scorpius had changed. After everything the two of them had been through, he wondered why Scorpius would pick some random guy over him. Just the thought of Scorpius with someone else made Al furious. What did he have that Al didn't? And why did he have this nagging feeling that Scorpius had remembered everything that had happened that night at the Leaky Cauldron? All of this was too much; he buried his face in his hands and cried. It wasn't just silent tears streaming down his face, it was heavy, cathartic sobs. He hadn't cried like this in years.

"Al?" Al looked up, and noticed that Scorpius was standing in front of him. "What are you doing here?" He asked as he sat down beside Al. Al was so embarrassed that he couldn't help but laugh through his tears.

"I'm lamenting," he said. Scorpius didn't laugh.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Scorpius asked him softly. He reached out to brush Al's dark hair out of his eyes, but Al pushed his hand away forcefully.

"Don't touch me. Please don't touch me," he grumbled, "I'm so angry with you right now. I really wish that you would leave me alone. Could you please?"

"Not when you look like this," Scorpius said. Al rolled his eyes and began wiping his cheeks; his face still wet from the tears.

"Shouldn't you be with Anthony Perkins right now?" He asked. Scorpius smiled at him.

"That's a muggle actor from the 60's, Al, so no."

"God, whatever his name is. You know who I'm talking about," he snapped, not looking at the other boy. There was a brief silence before he answered.

"Anthony isn't too happy with me right now," he said. Al smiled bitterly.

"Did you get drunk and tell him you loved him and then vomit all over his shoes and pretend to forget it all the next morning?" He said. He waited for Scorpius to deny that he lied to him. He waited for him to apologize. He waited for him to say anything, but there was just silence.

"Oh," was all Scorpius had managed to say.

"You remember everything, don't you?"

"Yeah," Scorpius said miserably. There was another long, painful silence.

"So when you said you loved me," Al said softly, "was that a lie, or..." he couldn't continue. His heart stopped as he waited for Scorpius's reply.

"Can't we just forget all this?" Scorpius asked, "Can we just go back to being friends?" Al's heart died for a few seconds.

"Are you kidding me?" Al said, "No. No we can't forget all this and go back to being friends, because I'm fucking in love with you." Al felt as if his entire body had stopped functioning properly. He felt as if he would never be the same after this; as if he could never recover.

"Why?" Scorpius asked him, not looking at Al. Al laughed bitterly.

"I don't know. I don't know why I ever thought I had a chance with you. God I'm such an idiot," he said, rubbing his forehead.

"No you're not," Scorpius whispered.

"It's okay. I get it. I'm awkward, and clingy, and obsessive, and you said yourself that I dress like a homeless ogre - "

"Al - "

"But the way you acted around me – I mean, can you blame me for getting the wrong message?" Scorpius stared at him, and he began to stammer over his words.

"I - I wasn't trying to lead you on - "

"You didn't lead me on!" Al interrupted, "You grabbed my boner and declared your love for me; that goes way beyond leading me on!" Scorpius blushed at this statement, but Al was too tired and too hurt to feel embarrassed. "And even before that! You would flirt with me and tell me how attractive I am - "

"That's not fair! You can't act like I was purposefully seducing you or something. I had no idea you were gay!" Scorpius protested. Al glared at him.

"How could you not know?"

"You never told me!"

"I told you I loved you! That seems a little gay to me!" Al said. Scorpius stared at Al, and for once he didn't have anything to say. Al shook his head. "And don't lie, you knew I was gay before that! I didn't have to say it!"

Scorpius didn't respond. There was so much more Al wanted to say. He wanted to scream at Scorpius for selfishly toying with his emotions, and for befriending him in the first place. He wanted to convince Scorpius that deep down, he felt the same way about Al. He wanted to forget everything Scorpius had just said, kiss him and relive what had happened that night at the Leaky Cauldron. He wanted Scorpius to say something. When he didn't, Al stood up and left the bathroom without saying another word, leaving Scorpius alone.

* * *

A/N: I know I said there were only going to be five chapters, but I lied. There's still one more chapter to go. Who knows, maybe I'll finish this fic before 2011! Reviews are appreciated!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Okay guys, this is the final chapter! Sorry it took me several years to finish this fanfic, but I told myself I was going to finish it and now it's finished. Enjoy!

* * *

Ever since Al was a kid, his dad told him stories about his adventures at Hogwarts. Al, James and Lily would sit around their father as he retold how he saved their mother from a giant basilisk, or how he, Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione solved various riddles to uncover the secret of the Philosopher's Stone. Al dreamed of one day going on adventures of his own. Unfortunately, Hogwarts wasn't nearly as exciting as he thought it was going to be. Not only was he overshadowed by his many relatives, there were no basilisks traveling through the pipes or escaped convicts breaking into the school. Hogwarts was a very safe learning environment, which meant it was the perfect breading ground for bullying, stressful schoolwork and petty teenage gossip.

Usually, Al wasn't thrilled about Hogwarts, but this year was different. It was his final year at Hogwarts, and he could just tell that something exciting was going to happen. Things were finally going his way. He had been made the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and James had finally graduated, which meant Al was officially the most talked about Potter at Hogwarts. He still wasn't the most talked about Weasley, thanks to the army of mutated frogs Roxanne conjured up and sent to the Slytherin common room that first week. Still, Al was happy to be back at Hogwarts. He was happy to return to Quidditch and his friends and the library. He was excited to start learning advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts. Things were going his way.

It wasn't until he saw Scorpius did he remember how miserable Hogwarts could be. They hadn't spoken or written to each other all summer. They haven't even made eye contact since their talk last spring. There were times when Al considered saying something to Scorpius, but he had no idea what he was supposed to say to someone after ignoring them for three months. He was ashamed of himself for being so petty and for not keeping in touch. He was also ashamed that he was still angry with Scorpius, and even more ashamed that every time he saw him, he would _still _get that feeling in his stomach.

The two first acknowledged the other's existence in Potions class. It was the only class they had together, and the words they exchanged didn't go beyond "could you pass me a sopophorous bean?" but it was something. Al caught himself smiling at comments Scorpius made once in a while, but he never let Scorpius know he found his comments funny. This was getting more and more difficult, especially since Scorpius's new potions partner was Toby Morris. Toby was a loud, competitive Gryffindor with a huge inferiority complex. He was a Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and he was constantly trying to "correct" the way Al coached the team. He hated Al for being made Quidditch captain, claiming it was nepotism. Al secretly suspected he was right, but he still hated Toby none the less. Scorpius and Toby never got along either, but that was less about Quidditch and more about two people with bad attitudes being forced to work together.

"You idiot, it's supposed to be light purple!" Toby said one day, gesturing to their cauldron. Scorpius, whose robes were splattered with the purple potion, looked as if he wanted to slap him.

"What do you think that is, orange?"

"That's _periwinkle, _not light purple!" Toby sneered with a superior tone. Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Is there a difference?"

"Periwinkle is not as saturated as light purple. _Everybody _knows that," Toby said. Al could feel his skin crawl with anger; he hated how Toby always claimed 'everybody' knew something, especially since it was clear nobody knew it. Judging by Scorpius's facial expression, Al sensed he felt the same way.

"Oh good lord, Toby, sometimes I think you're even gayer than I am," Scorpius said to him while flipping through his potions book. This comment did not sit well with Toby. He looked absolutely furious.

"Fuck you," he said. His comment made Scorpius look up from the potions book in shock. It seemed a little harsh for such a casual joke.

"Really, Toby, I was only joking," Scorpius told him. "I'm sure you're only half as gay as me."

"Oh you'd like that, wouldn't you?" Toby sneered. Scorpius stared at him for a few seconds.

"Excuse me?"

"You think I haven't noticed you staring at me all the time?" Toby said, his voice barely above a whisper. His eyes darted around the potions room as he said this, as if afraid someone might overhear. Scorpius laughed loudly. He _had _been staring in Toby's direction, but only because Al was at the desk next to him.

"Are you serious? You really think I've been checking you out? You're even more vain than I thought!" Scorpius exclaimed, his voice carrying. A few students stopped working on their potions and stared at Scorpius.

"Malfoy, Morris, focus on your potions," the potions professor drawled. "And don't kill each other while I'm out of the room. That goes for all of you" he said, pointing to nobody in particular as he exited the classroom. Once he was gone, Toby went back to scowling at Scorpius.

"I've seen you staring at me! Don't deny it!" Toby hissed at him, looking mortified and furious.

"Fine! You caught me!" Scorpius said theatrically, throwing his arms up in mock defeat. "I secretly fantasize about running away with you and living together in a giant periwinkle castle!"

"Shut up, Malfoy!"

"Oh don't worry, we can repaint it light purple if you'd like," Scorpius said coyly. Al tried to stifle a laugh and just ended up snorting loudly. Scorpius grinned at him out of habit, forgetting that the two of them weren't speaking. Before he was able to reminisce about laughing with Al, Toby interrupted him.

"Just so you know, if you try anything, I swear to god I'll use an unforgivable curse on you," he said darkly, glaring at Scorpius. This comment was just too much. Scorpius knew he should've rolled his eyes at Toby and continued working, but the fact that Al was paying attention to the two of them made Scorpius want to show off a little bit. One of Scorpius's many talents was getting people worked up.

"So _that's_ the kind of bloke you are," he said with a smirk, "kinky." Toby hit the desk with the palm of his hands loudly and pointed his wand at Scorpius.

"Fuck you, Malfoy. Put a dick in it and crawl back to Voldemort, why don't you?" The whole room went silent. Nobody was working on their potions anymore; all they could do was stare at the two boys in shock. Scorpius stared at him, taken aback by his comment. The look of shock and humiliation in Scorpius's eyes was unmistakable, and Al no longer cared that Scorpius broke his heart. He hated seeing him like that.

"Hey!" Al shouted at Toby. "What the hell, Morris? You can't talk to him like that!" Toby smiled and looked around the room, as if under the delusion that other people in the class found this funny.

"Why not? What is he, your boyfriend?" He said, grinning at Al.

"No, but he's a human being and he doesn't deserve your ignorant bullshit!" Al said, taking a few steps closer to Toby.

"It's not ignorance, it's fact," Toby said confidently, "everyone knows the Malfoy's used to be followers of Voldemort. I wouldn't be surprised if he's started up a new band of Death Eaters with his Slytherin pals. He's nothing but an inbred, cock sucking - "

A loud bang interrupted Toby's rant, and Toby flew backwards into the cold, stone wall. Several students in the classroom shrieked, and a couple went over to Toby to help him stand up. Toby felt the back of his head and brought his hand back into view. Al noticed with a sickening feeling in his stomach that his hand was covered in blood. Al stared at his own wand, and felt his heart race in panic. He looked around the room and noticed that the professor had returned just in time to Al's attack on Toby.

"Mr. Potter!" the professor said shakily, "I think you need a little visit with the headmaster."

* * *

Al spent the rest of the day having a long talk with the headmaster about the importance of self control and then serving detention. While Al was forced to polish awards and trophies, Scorpius was sitting in the library, attempting to study. It had gotten to the point where his feelings for Al worked themselves into his homework. In the middle of his essays he would end up writing Al's name subconsciously. Eventually he just gave up on homework completely and drew stick figures of him and Al playing exploding snap and flying on broomsticks. He enchanted his drawings to move about the page to entertain himself, but it only made him more lonely. Seeing stick figures of him and Al confessing their love for each other did not brighten his mood. One of the Scorpius's was serenading a swooning stick figure Al, and Scorpius was furious that a stick figure version of him was better at romance than he was. He wrinkled up his homework and tossed it in the trash. He began walking around the library when he found Al hunched over a desk with his nose buried in a book. Scorpius thought that maybe if he backed away slowly, Al wouldn't even notice he was there.

"Scorpius?" Al said before he could make his sneaky departure. Scorpius froze, turned around and gave Al a forced smile.

"Oh, hi!" Scorpius said awkwardly. The two stared at each other for a moment, unsure of what to say or how to start.

"Hi," Al responded, setting down his book and staring at Scorpius curiously. Scorpius cleared his throat.

"Er, how was detention?" He asked. This was clearly the wrong thing to ask, based on the blank stare Al gave him.

"Sensational," Al finally said, his voice monotone. "Thanks for asking." Scorpius sighed, feeling uncomfortable.

"Look, Al, I'm really sorry," he said. Al gave him a weak smile.

"Don't be sorry, it's not your fault. You didn't make me attack Toby," he responded blandly. Scorpius wasn't sure if he should insist that it was his fault, or if he should tell Al he was his hero for beating up Toby, or if he should agree and tell him attacking Toby was a really dumb idea.

"So I hear you're the Quidditch captain now," Scorpius said, smiling at him eagerly. Out of all the things Scorpius wanted to say to Al, congratulating his Quidditch success wasn't really high on the list. Still, he figured small talk couldn't hurt.

"Well, I _was," _Al said bitterly._ "_I've been demoted after attacking Toby." Scorpius mentally cursed his luck; apparently small talk _could _hurt.

"Oh. I'm sorry," Scorpius said sincerely, feeling even more guilty. Al smiled at him.

"It's not really a big deal," he said, trying to sound reassuring. "The only reason I even wanted to be captain was for the title. Honestly, I'm lucky they didn't kick me off the team. And Teresa's a great Quidditch player and a good friend of mine. She'll make a great captain." The two sat in silence for a moment.

"You didn't have to do that," Scorpius said, "I'm used to people saying crude things like that, it's not a big deal." Al looked at Scorpius in a very peculiar way.

"It is a big deal. He had no right to say those things to you. You don't deserve it," he said, not taking his eyes away from Scorpius. Scorpius blushed under his gaze, and he suddenly remembered how much he missed Al.

"Can we be friends again?" He asked before he could stop himself. Much to his surprise, Al laughed.

"I thought you'd never ask," He said. Scorpius grinned.

"Room of Requirement?" He suggested. Al shoved the book he was reading away from him and stood up.

"Yes please."

It was almost as if the two had never stopped being friends. They laughed and talked about how boring their summers were and how much they are looking forward to graduation and everything in between. Scorpius hadn't had this much fun just talking with someone in a long time.

"Hey! Lysander's a little odd, but he's a good guy. I don't get why people are constantly making fun of him. He hasn't done anything wrong!" Al said when Scorpius complained about his new Charms partner. Scorpius smirked at him.

"He just wears fluorescent robes and occasionally serenades paintings," he said, taking a sip from his Pina Colada. "I'm just saying he's different!" He said defensively when Al gave him a stern look.

"You're one to talk! You're the only wizard I know who prefers Pina Colada's over Butterbeer!" Al said, smiling. Scorpius laughed.

"You're such a hero," he said, smiling at Al fondly.

"What?" Al said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, you know! Sticking up for Lysander Scamander and beating up Toby Morris. You're so noble and heroic," he responded, ruffling Al's hair affectionately. Al laughed and waved him off.

"Oh, come on!" He said, his cheeks turning slightly pink from Scorpius's affectionate gesture.

"You are! You're such a little golden boy. You and your bravery," Scorpius teased, punching Al playfully in the arm. Al didn't smile. Instead he looked away from Scorpius and shook his head.

"I'm not brave," he said darkly. There was no modest smile or awkward blush; he looked genuinely upset.

"Well shit, Al. There's no need to get all mopey about it. Of course you're brave! I know that wasn't the first time you've stood up for me. I hear what people say behind my back. It's not like it gets to me too much, but hearing you stick up for me... well, people don't usually do that," Scorpius said. Al shrugged.

"It's not a big deal. You're my friend." Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Okay sure, but you stick up for Rose, you stick up for Lysander Scamander, you stick up for that kid with the big ears - "

"There's nothing wrong with big ears."

"See? You don't even know him and you stick up for him!" Scorpius exclaimed. Al shook his head.

"That's not _bravery. _If I was brave, I would have told my family I was gay by now. I mean, you had no problem with that," he said in a self deprecating manner. Scorpius's insides churned with guilt. He sighed heavily and set down his drink.

"I didn't tell my parents I was gay. They found out," Scorpius admitted. Al stared at him.

"Really? How?" He asked. Scorpius wasn't sure how to answer, and his silence made Al uncomfortable.

"I wrote someone a love letter," Scorpius said reluctantly, blushing a little as he said so. Al stared at him in shock.

"Scorpius... that's so cute," he said, smiling at him fondly. He had expected him to say that he was caught doing inappropriate things with an inappropriate significant other, but a love letter seemed so sweet and harmless.

"It's not cute! It was a really sexy, passionate love letter! For grown ups!" Scorpius protested, folding his arms and pouting.

"Sorry," Al said, still smiling. "So your parents found this sexy grown up love letter?"

"Unfortunately," Scorpius grumbled as he took another drink of his pina colada.

"How grown up was this letter?" Al asked him, staring at him suspiciously. Scorpius pondered this question; it was difficult to find the right words.

"Let's just say I used the term 'succulent toned body' a little too often," he finally admitted. Al's eyes widened and he tried desperately not to laugh.

"Oh my god, Scorp. That's mortifying," he said, failing miserably to keep a smile off of his face. Scorpius groaned and buried his face in his hands.

"I was never even planning on sending the letter!" He moaned. "I just – I needed to get it out of my system, I suppose."

"So there's a guy you're interested in?" Al asked him casually. There was an uncomfortable silence.

"Um... We don't have to talk about it if you don't want - "

"No no, I'm fine!" Al said forcefully. "Really, I'm over what happened between us. Seriously, I'm completely over it! We're friends now! You can tell me anything." Al could tell he sounded a little too eager to be sincere, but Scorpius didn't seem to notice.

"Really?"

"Yes! Frankly, I wish you would have just told me there was someone else you were interested in. I mean, I thought the reason you turned me down was because I'm repulsive or something," Al said, forcing a smile on his face. Scorpius reluctantly smiled back.

"Well, you are the most unfashionable gay man I've ever met. That's a little repulsive," he said, laughing to himself. Al laughed back, and Scorpius felt the mood lighten a little bit, so he continued.

"I mean, you make _house elves_ look fashionable. It's - "

"Alright I get it," Al said bluntly. "So who's the lucky guy?" Scorpius shrugged.

"It doesn't matter. We'll probably never get together," he said miserably.

"Why? Is he straight?" Al asked.

"No, straight boys are gross. He's gay, he's just... Well, he's out of my league," Scorpius said, the same miserable expression on his face. Al was so surprised by this comment that he laughed.

"I never thought you'd ever say that about a guy." Sure, Al had listened to Scorpius mildly talk about some boy he found attractive, but he never stressed over it and he certainly didn't consider anybody out of his league.

"I never thought I'd meet a guy like this," Scorpius said distantly, staring at the fireplace. Al could see it in Scorpius's eyes that this guy wasn't just some form of entertainment for Scorpius, the way Al had been. He was downright heartbroken about him, and Al could feel himself burn with jealousy.

"Oh. Great. He sounds like a catch," Al exclaimed with false excitement. He had no idea who this guy was, but he hated him even more than he hated Toby Morris, and that was saying something.

* * *

The next night, Al told Scorpius he couldn't spend time with him. He claimed that he had to catch up on his Defense Against the Dark Arts homework, when in reality Al was two chapters ahead of everybody else. He really just wanted to be alone and think to himself for a little while. He always seemed to run into Scorpius at the library, so he began spending his evenings in the astronomy tower. It was very peaceful and the view quite beautiful. However, it was also quite small, and Al ran into someone else up there while he was taking a midnight walk around the school.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't know anybody was in here," Al stammered, feeling a little embarrassed that he ran into someone while he was supposed to be in bed. The other boy smiled at him, and Al finally recognized who he was. He was Eric Nott, a Slytherin in his year. He recognized him from his Defense Against the Dark Arts class and prefect meetings, but Al didn't really know much about him. All he knew was that Scorpius had very strong opinions about Eric. He complained about how everybody worshipped Eric, and how Eric was completely full of himself, and how Eric was a closet case. He never mentioned that he was handsome.

"Don't worry about it. We can fit more than one person in the Astronomy tower," he said, leaning against the wall and smiling at Al warmly. Al didn't know how he had never noticed him before; he was tall and lean, and he had a very charming smile.

"Er, great. I'm not necessarily doing Astronomy homework," Al said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"I'm not doing homework at all. I just come here for the view," he said, gesturing towards the window. He had a smooth, articulate voice, the kind of voice a politician or an actor would have. He stared at Al curiously. "You're Al Potter, right? Scorpius's Gryffindor friend?"

"Er, yes. I suppose," Al shrugged, "I'm guessing Scorpius doesn't have a lot of Gryffindor friends?"

"Well he doesn't have any that are as memorable as you, that's for sure," he said, narrowing his eyes at Al. Al laughed nervously and blushed.

"Er, thank you," he said. He wasn't quite sure if Eric was hitting on him or if it was his imagination, but he felt oddly flattered all the same.

"I'm Eric Nott, by the way," Eric said, holding out his hand.

"Yeah. I mean, I know. Because we have Defense Against the Dark Arts together," Al stammered awkwardly as he shook his hand.

"That's right, we do. I believe we've also played Quidditch against each other," Eric said to him.

"Really? You're on the Quidditch team?" Al said before he could stop himself. This was probably something he should have known, especially since he had been Quidditch captain for two whole weeks.

"Yes, I'm the keeper," Eric told him, amused.

"Sorry. I guess I never paid too much attention - "

"It's understandable. You seekers are always so focused on your beloved snitch that you never seem to notice all the players on the field," Eric said casually. Al was vaguely suspicious that Eric wasn't really talking about Quidditch.

"Er, yeah. I suppose so," Al said, trying hard not to blush.

"It's funny meeting you in person. You've become a popular topic of discussion amongst the Slytherin girls," Eric said. Al's eyes widened at this comment.

"What?"

"You don't know how many girls have come up to Scorpius asking him to introduce them to you." Al laughed when he said this.

"You're kidding."

"I kid you not. You're viewed as the silent, mysterious type. I'd keep an eye out for Cassandra Zabini if I were you. She's determined to make her father disinherit her, and she desperately wants you to be the reason." Al looked around the room, almost as if expecting Eric to be talking to someone else.

"But... I'm such a dork," was all Al was able to say. Eric laughed loudly when he said this.

"Perhaps, but it's endearing," he said to him, still smiling.

"No, I'm really not mysterious or, you know, _sexy _or anything like that," Al insisted, feeling a little uncomfortable with the situation. Eric's smile faded a little, and he gazed at Al in a peculiar manner.

"Who told you that? Scorpius?" He asked. Al's silence answered for him. "Don't listen to anything he says. If he tells you you're undesirable, it's probably because you're more attractive than him. He's always been very petty." He then eyed Al, looking him up and down, smiling as he did so.

"Personally," He said, a grin creeping across his face, "I think you're very sexy and mysterious." Al's face turned bright red at this comment. There was no mistaking it; Eric was shamelessly hitting on him.

"Er, thank you, I guess," Al said, trying hard not to smile like an idiot.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?" Eric asked suspiciously.

"A little."

"I'm sorry, I have that effect on people," Eric responded in a very suave manner. Al couldn't help but laugh.

"Is that a Slytherin thing? Making people uncomfortable?" He said, cringing a little as he said it. Eric chuckled.

"Perhaps," he said, still smiling warmly at Al. "I'm afraid I have to get going. I'm really not much of a night owl."

"Well, it was nice meeting you," Al said, feeling a little disappointed that he was leaving so soon.

"You know, Al, we should study together for Defense Against the Dark Arts sometime," Eric suggested.

"Definitely," Al said eagerly, feeling very giddy. Al couldn't help but think that maybe his days of moping and pining over Scorpius were finally coming to an end.

* * *

Despite the fact Al had come to terms with his sexuality, he had never really spoken of it much; at least not in a casual manner. The only two people who even knew he was gay were Rose and Scorpius. While Al loved Rose and usually enjoyed her company, talking to her about boys was never fun. She had a bit of a love-hate relationship with the opposite sex, and Al felt he needed to speak with someone who had a more positive attitude.

"Can I talk to you about something?" Al asked Scorpius nervously while they were studying in the room of requirement. He had never really spoken to Scorpius about boys. Not counting the love confession, their conversations about boys have been limited to Scorpius speculating if Nearly Headless Nick was gay or not and Al being grossed out by the conversation.

"If you must," Scorpius sighed, lazily shifting through his potions textbook. Al was beginning to have second thoughts. No matter how platonic Al acted around Scorpius, he knew he still had feelings for him. They were no longer heart wrenching, but they still existed. However, Al figured that the best way for things to become platonic is if Al started acting like things were platonic.

"I think... I think I have a crush on someone," Al said. He was surprised by how liberating he felt when he said that. It was the first time he was able to talk about a boy without any angst involved. Scorpius stopped flipping through his textbook and stared wide eyed at Al. What Al didn't know was that Scorpius had just gone from bored to devastated in a manner of seconds.

"Really?" He said, still not quite able to grasp what Al had just said. He looked at Al as if he had told him he'd grown an extra toe.

"Yeah," Al said, smiling triumphantly, "In a gay way."

"Very articulate. So who is it?" Scorpius asked him, burring his face in the book and trying to sound disinterested.

"Eric Nott," Al replied. Scorpius dropped the book onto the table and stared at Al as if his extra toe had mutated into a monster.

"I'm sorry, _who_?"He asked, praying that Al had said someone else's name.

"Eric Nott. He's a Slytherin."

"I know he's a Slytherin!" Scorpius snapped. "He's a crazy neo-death eater closeted nut job! How did you even know he was gay!"

"You told me!" Al said angrily.

"Oh yeah. Well I wouldn't hold your breath, Al. I doubt he'd give you the time of day," Scorpius told him, returning to his potions textbook and looking bored. Al could feel his cheeks burn with anger.

"He seemed pretty keen on flirting with me last night," Al said mildly. Scorpius put down the book and gave Al a skeptical look.

"What? He wasn't flirting with you!" Scorpius exclaimed.

"Yes he was!"

"Oh really, Al. Do you even know what that word means?" Scorpius said with an arrogant, condescending smile.

"Yes, I do! I'm pretty sure calling someone sexy and mysterious is flirting!" Al protested. Scorpius looked as if he had just been slapped.

"Are you joking? Did he really say that?" He said.

"Yes!" Al retorted. He glared at Scorpius, who was having a little difficulty coming up with a response. He wanted to say something witty and insulting about Eric, but his mind was filled with horrifying images of Eric serenading a swooning Al.

"When did this even happen! When were you two even alone together?" He finally managed to ask.

"We were doing homework in the Astronomy Tower," Al said defensively. Scorpius's insides churned with hatred when he heard this. He knew very well what Eric enjoyed doing in the Astronomy tower.

"Oh really, Al. The Astronomy Tower? Could you get more cliché?" he said, trying to mask how devastated he was. Al frowned at him.

"What is your problem?"

"Nothing! It's just that I know Eric, and to be perfectly honest, you're too nice for him," he said, patting Al on the back in a patronizing manner. He then though for a second before adding "I bet he called you endearing. Did he call you _endearing! _What an asshole."

"You're an asshole," Al muttered. Scorpius stared at Al, shocked and hurt by his comment.

"Are you mad at me?"

"Yes I'm mad at you! Why are you the judge of whether or not Eric is a good guy to be with?" Al argued.

"Because I _know _Eric!" Scorpius told him, "You don't! I He's just flirting with you because he wants to make me angry. He knows we're friends, and he hates me." Al couldn't help but notice that Scorpius had managed to turn this into a conversation about him.

"Why is it so hard for you to believe that someone might actually find me attractive?" Al asked, thinking back to Eric's comment about how Scorpius always put people down. He never really noticed it before, but Eric was right.

"It's not that! You don't understand the way that Slytherin's work, Al. He's manipulative, and deceivingly charming, and he doesn't care about anybody but himself," Scorpius argued, his voice rising with every argument that he made.

"Sounds familiar," Al said under his breath as he folded his arms and looked away from Scorpius.

"And he's in the closet! He wouldn't ever want to do boyfriend things with you! He just wants to have sex with you!"

"Good! That's all I want too! Tell him to climb aboard!" Al exclaimed. Scorpius was not expecting that. The thought of Eric 'climging aboard' Al made Scorpius want to strangle something; preferably Eric.

"Come on, you don't mean that," he insisted.

"No, I really do. I'm sick of being a virgin," Al said, folding his arms and pouting like a child. Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Well you shouldn't have sex with him just because he's there! You should find someone who you at least care about!"

"Really? You're going to lecture me on that?" Al said before he could stop himself. He knew he had crossed a line the moment he said it. Scorpius stared at Al, clearly hurt by his comment. It was no secret that Scorpius wasn't a blushing virgin, and he had admitted to Al he didn't love the guys he had been with. It wasn't something Scorpius was proud of, but he wasn't ashamed either. What hurt was that Al had never judged him like this before. Scorpius thought he could tell Al anything.

"Alright. Fuck you," Scorpius said.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean – I shouldn't have said that," Al said quickly, trying to repair the damage he had done as fast as possible. "But come on, what other options do I have? There are what, five gay guys at this school? Are any of them really worth it?"

"Yes!" Scorpius insisted.

"Other than your perfect mystery man?" Al asked him bitterly.

"What?" Scorpius said, giving Al and odd look. As far as he was aware, there was no perfect mystery man in his life.  
"The guy you've been pining over since last year. You don't get to judge me on who I'm interested in if you keep your guy a secret! We're supposed to be friends, we're supposed to be able to tell each other these things." Scorpius blushed when he realized what Al was talking about.

"Al..."

"You're the only friend I have who I can talk to about being gay. So it would be nice to be able to talk about being gay! I'm not still in love with you or anything, so you don't have to tip toe around my feelings anymore! I'm really getting sick of it!"

"It's not that -"

"You really are a hypocrite," Al said, shaking his head. "You would be furious if I told you your guy was Voldemort reincarnated." Scorpius felt a desperate need to disappear from the room. It was just too uncomfortable.

"Well yes, because he's not!"

"How do you know? I bet you know him about as well as I know Eric! I bet you've had only a few conversations! I bet the only reason you're interested in him is because he's some stupid muscly pretty boy!" Al said, feeling himself burn with jealousy. He knew he sounded petty and immature, but he was too angry to care.

"No! I mean he is muscly, but we have a lot in common, and -"

"Really? Like what?" Al snapped. "You probably bonded over something stupid like shampoo or facials and all of the sudden he's your soul mate!"

"Well he's not a girl!"

"Then who is this guy? Do I know him?" Al asked. Scorpius didn't respond, he just bit his lip and avoided eye contact. As he stared at Scorpius, a horrible thought came into Al's head.

"Is he older?" He asked. Scorpius didn't know how to respond; after all, Al was a couple months older than him, but his silence made Al assume the worst. "Oh god, is he a professor?"

"Of course he's not!" Scorpius retorted with a look of disgust on his face.

"But he's older, isn't he? Please don't tell me he's over forty. He's probably some horrible, corrupt politician who seduced you by buying you gawdy jewelry with money he embezzled from some orphanage for children amputees!" Al exclaimed, words falling out of his mouth at an uncontrollable speed. As more horrible thoughts filled his head, Scorpius stared at him as if he was insane.

"How do you even come up with this stuff?" He asked. He couldn't decide if he was concerned or impressed with Al's imagination.

"Well is he?"

"Is he what? A forty year old embezzling orphan hater? No!"

"Then who is he?" Al asked him desperately. Scorpius paused; he felt like such an idiot for thinking he could get away with talking to Al about this. There plenty of other reasons he felt like an idiot; one being the fact that he was still in love with Al. He wished that he could tell him the truth, but he knew it would be useless. He had been so fickle with Al that he doubted he'd forgive him for this.

"I can't tell you. I'm sorry, I just can't," he said softly, lowering his head in shame. He knew it was all over now; there was no way Al wouldn't be able to figure it out after that statement.

"Oh my god." Al whispered. Scorpius could tell by the tone in his voice that he knew the truth. Scorpius looked at Al, praying that the right words would come to him, but for the first time in a long time he was speechless. The way Al was looking at him nearly broke his heart; he looked hurt and confused, and the silence between them did nothing to ease the tension.

"It's Eric, isn't it?" Al finally said. "That's why you're trying to convince me not to be with him!"

"It's you, you fucking idiot!" Scorpius exclaimed. It was if the words had involuntarily left his mouth. The silence that followed was painful. It took Al a second to realize what he had just said.

"What?" Al responded breathlessly.

"The guy who's out of my league? It's you. I wrote you the love letter. I fell in love with you. I'm still in love with you. Please, just don't..." Scorpius shook his head, looking more flustered than Al had ever seen him. "Anyone but Eric, okay? He really is an asshole." Al didn't know what to say. His brain wasn't quite working properly, and he was trying to piece together the information.

"So... you loved me this entire time?" He asked. Scorpius took a deep breath.

"Yes," he said softly, rubbing his forehead and looking away from Al.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Al asked. Scorpius shook his head.

"I don't know." The two sat in silence for a moment. Al's heart was beating painfully fast. He had spent – he had _wasted_ so much time pining over Scorpius, only to get led on and rejected. It had taken all summer to numb his feelings for him.

"That's not a good enough answer. You can't do this. You can't..." Al sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, trying to find the right words. "You really hurt me. And I thought it was because there was someone else, which sucked but it was something I could handle. But you put me through all of that... Why? Just because you felt like it?"

"No! That's not it!" Scorpius said quickly.

"I don't believe you. I don't believe that you love me, you just think you do because now I'm interested in someone else," He said, his heart sinking at the truth in his own words.

"That is not true!"

"Just save it. We both know that by tomorrow you'll change your mind," Al muttered, standing up and making his way towards the door. As Scorpius watched him walk away, he felt the same emptiness he felt all summer. He knew he couldn't go back to that; he knew he couldn't let Al leave the room without an explanation.

"You know that blue shirt you spent an hour searching for when you lost it at Quidditch practice?" Scorpius asked, feeling himself begin to panic. Al turned around and stared at him.

"What?"

"You know, you said it was your lucky shirt and I said it was ugly and -"

"I know the shirt," Al snapped at Scorpius. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"I stole it," he confessed, his heart beating loudly. "I stole it and slept with it so I could smell you at night." Al stared at Scorpius, his green eyes wide as causers. This was almost more shocking than the love confession, and even though he knew it was creepy, he couldn't help thinking it was adorable. Al had never been so flattered in his entire life. Scorpius groaned and hit his forehead with the palm of his hand.

"Fuck! I can't believe I just told you that! That sounded so much more romantic in my head!" He moaned, thinking desperately of something else to say. "Forget I said that, okay? I'm just not used to this, you know? I'm not used to caring about anybody, especially not about a guy like you. Oh god, I can't stop talking."

"That's nothing new," Al joked, trying but failing to lighten the mood. Scorpius sighed and looked down at his feet.

"I'm so sorry about what happened, Al. If I could, I would do things differently, and I know this is no excuse, but when you confronted me about that night and told me you loved me... I don't know. I figured if I tried being with you, I would do something to fuck it up, because I fuck everything up," Scorpius said, looking at Al with pleading eyes. The way Scorpius looked at him was too much for Al. He looked so lonely and so miserable, and it was becoming harder to stay mad at him.

"Please don't hate me," Scorpius continued, "We already did the silent treatment, and it was the loneliest summer of my life. I know I fucked up, but... Please, I can't lose you now." Those words were all it took. Al took a few steps closer to Scorpius and wrapped his arms around his waist, just like he did when he first saw him crying a year ago. Scorpius held his breath, shocked by Al's reaction. He sighed and buried his face in the crook of Al's neck, and Al could feel his own heart pounding in his chest. Scorpius lifted his head; their faces were mere inches apart. It was as if a force field between them had dissolved, and Al was finally allowed to do what he had been dreaming about for so long. Before any doubt could fill his head, Al closed the space between them and pressed his lips against Scorpius's.

Scorpius could feel warmth fill his body, starting from his heart and running through his fingertips. As Al traced the curve of Scorpius's lower lip with his tongue, Scorpius wrapped his arms around Al's neck just to keep himself steady. Scorpius had never wanted anybody more than he wanted Al at that moment. They finally drew away from each other, breathing heavily. Al's eyes locked with Scorpius's, and he realized that nothing could possibly happen this year that would be more exciting than this. Everything about the moment was perfect, and judging by the goofy grin on Scorpius's face, things were going to continue to be perfect for a very long time.

* * *

Al was so nervous he couldn't even look at his dinner plate. His family sat around the table, chatting idly about what relatives are visiting for Christmas and who's buying what for who. Lily and Rose were talking about classes while Uncle Ron and James talked about Quidditch. It wasn't comforting for Al to know that he was about to ruin their perfectly boring conversations to come out of the closet. He was beginning to feel nauseous when Scorpius placed his hand on Al's knee under the table. Al had begged Scorpius to visit over break so he could come out to his family,Scorpius smiled at him reassuringly, and Al smiled back. Now he only felt a little nauseous. He took a deep breath, stood up and tapped his glass to get his family's attention.

"Mum? Dad? Family?" Al said nervously, "I have something I need to tell you." All nine pairs of eyes were on him as he tried not choke on his own fear.

"Yes, Al?" His mother said, staring at him with concern in her eyes. Al took a deep breath.

"I'm gay."

"We know," his parents said at the same time. Nobody seemed shocked by the news. James and Hugo went right back to eating their mashed potatoes while Lily poured herself a glass of water.

"You do?" Al asked.

"Yes. And we still love you," His father said to him. Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Your family is so boring," he muttered, thinking back to the agonizing night when he came out to his parents.

"Seriously, you're all okay with it?"

"I'm not okay with it," James said.

"James!" Rose exclaimed, giving him an appalled look.

"I don't care if he's gay, but he's with Malfoy!" he clarified. Uncle Ron nearly choked on his green beans when he heard this.

"What!"

"Jr, honey. Malfoy Jr," Aunt Hermione told him.

"Oh," he said, returning to his green beans.

"Al, I have a question. If you're gay, then why don't you have any fashion sense?" Lily asked him coyly.

"Lily, that is such a politically incorrect stereotype!" Rose exclaimed. "Just because Al is homosexual _doesn't _mean he's stylish, musical or artistic!"

"Thanks, Rose," Al said in a monotone.

"I think Al _should_ be a stereotype, because then he'd at least not wear the same dirty outfit two days in a row," Lily said. Scorpius wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"Gross, Al, you do that?"

"Hey, I do that!" James said defensively. Scorpius smirked at him.

"Maybe you should be gay then."

"Gee, if that means I get to be with a jackass like you, Malfoy, sign me right up!" James said sarcastically. Al's dad cringed at this comment.

"James, please tell me you're not gay too."

"I'm not gay!"

"Positive?"

"For god's sake dad, I'm engaged!" As soon as the words left James's mouth, everyone at the table gasped simultaneously. Al didn't even know it was possible for so many people to gasp simultaneously.

"Oh my god, James! You're _engaged? _To _who!" _His mother exclaimed. She looked horrified and excited at the same time.

"Who do you think, mum?"

"Oh no, not Emily."

"James, really, this is terrific news, but are you sure you're old enough for marriage?" Aunt Hermione asked him in a very motherly manner.

"Hermione, there's no need for you to lecture my son," Al's dad said sternly before turning to James. "James, you're way too young to be engaged!"

"James, Emily is a tart. Don't marry her," Lily said while picking at her fingernails. Rose raised her eyebrows.

"pot calling the kettle black, Lily?" she said.

"Javier is mine!"

"Javier doesn't want to be with someone as uncultured as you!"

"Javier doesn't want to date either of you!" Hugo stated with frustration. "But Rose, you know who _does? _Frank Longbottom! Lily, you know who wants to date you? Everybody else! Now shut up about Javier!"

"Hey, I thought this conversation was about _me," _James said.

As the arguments raged on, Scorpius leaned close to Al and whispered "want to go somewhere else?"

"God yes." Al said, smiling. Scorpius and Al left the table, and as Scorpius laced his fingers with Al's and began pulling him towards his bedroom, Al felt his heart melt with giddy excitement. All his life, Al had been overshadowed by his relatives. He had never viewed himself as interesting or exciting, but Scorpius Malfoy thought he was the most fascinating person in the world. That's all that mattered to Al.

* * *

Thanks for reading my story! This fanfiction means a lot to me. It is the first multi chapter fic I've ever finished. I started it in 2008, so finishing it in 2011 isn't really something to brag about, but I still wrote a story. I've started so many stories and fanfictions, and I this is the first one I've ever actually completed. I like to think that my writing style has improved over the years, and having evidence of that posted on the internet is kind of surreal and awesome at the same time.

And to those of you who reviewed: I love you. Honestly, I cannot even begin to describe how happy every review has made me. I feel so bad for not mentioning this before; usually when I finish a chapter I just want to focus on posting it as soon as possible because I'm so bad at updating, but your reviews have meant so much to me.

Thanks again for reading my story! Hoped you liked it!


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